IRS/ASSC Story Response
Chalice Blythe - After School Satan Club Director
Stu De Haan - The Satanic Temple Legal Counsel
On March 16, 2017 the website Judicial Watch published an article entitled “IRS Gives ‘After School Satan Club’ Tax-Exempt Status in 10 Days” which claimed that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) “fast tracked a deranged Satanic cult to operate as a nonprofit in taxpayer-funded elementary schools.” While this claim has been repeated by several news organizations, including Fox and The Washington Times, it is utter fiction. The Satanic Temple (TST) does, in fact, run After School Satan Clubs (ASSC) as a reason-based science-centered counterbalance to fundamentalist evangelical after-school programs, but the IRS played absolutely no role in the approval of these clubs. The After School Satan Clubs are sponsored by the non-profit 501(c)(3), Reason Alliance, Ltd.; however, Reason Alliance earned its tax-exempt status long before ASSC existed and did not, despite claims, receive its exemption in 10 days. Further, nothing in the filings for Reason Alliance make reference to Satan or Satanism. Clearly, any insinuations that “Obama’s IRS” struck a secret alliance with Satanists are nothing more than an absurd fabrication.
Not only is Judicial Watch’s story demonstrably false, it is a clear example of gross journalistic negligence across the reporting spectrum and an inability to comprehend not only what the After School Satan Club is, but also what procedures ASSC underwent to get approval for
operation in public schools. Procedures, it should be noted, that are very clearly laid out in the documentation they themselves obtained and released.
Reason Alliance, Ltd., was formed in 2014 by the founders of The Satanic Temple (TST). The non-profit was set up to encourage reason and empathy, reject tyrannical authority, promote justice, and advocate pragmatic common sense. Reason Alliance also supports activities that advance these core values. When the After School Satan Club was formed in July 2016, Reason Alliance was used to sponsor this program as ASSC operations are consistent with its mission statement. This sponsorship supports The Satanic Temple’s After School Satan Club by way of covering the rental fees and liability insurance coverage required by law. The assertion by Judicial Watch and all other news outlets that ASSC is somehow itself a tax exempt entity or operated by Reason Alliance Ltd. has no grounding in reality nor does the documentation they’ve obtained support this claim.
Additionally, multiple news outlets have and continue to refer to The Satanic Temple as a “cult.” This slanderous categorization of our organization is precisely the type of irresponsible, lazy, and sensational journalism that Americans have come to expect. This expectation, however, does not absolve the media from propagating such falsehoods. By any definition of the term, The Satanic Temple does not fall into this category and any accusation of such is not only a bald face lie, it’s libelous due to the heinous connotations implied. Any cursory research of this organization would debunk this allegation, calling into question the actual efforts these journalists put into verifying the facts prior to publishing. This, in essence, is why the After School Satan Club is so necessary in schools to teach critical thought and rational inquiry so this type of vitriol can be avoided in the future.
We hope that news outlets exercise more skepticism toward Judicial Watch press releases in the future.