The Satanic Temple (TST) was founded in 2013 and has it's headquarters in Salem, Massachusetts. TST identifies as a non-theistic religion, views Satan as a literary figure rather than an actual being, and was granted tax-exempt status in 2019. They're well known for challenging religious displays on public property by means of a Baphomet statue, and operate an abortion clinic in New Mexico called Samuel Alito's Mom's Satanic Abortion Clinic. They challenge the encroachment of religion into American politics, law, and public education.
Last year The Satanic Temple was asked to open an After School Satan Club at Chimneyrock Elementary School in Cordova, Tennessee. The school already has a Good News Club operating on the premises; the Good News Club is run by Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF), a Christian Bible-based organization focused on proselytizing children. They're been operating since 1937 in the US and have branched out to include 176 countries worldwide.
Child Evangelism Fellowship is open about their agenda, and about what they do. They express admiration for Christian missionaries who feed people and provide medical care, however CEF isn't about that sort of thing. And like certain other religious organizations, they won't let an opportunity to preach to the vulnerable pass them by.
Local news coverage of the controversy over the After School Satan Club at Chimneyrock Elementary School-
The persons making the request for an After School Satan Club at Chimneyrock Elementary wanted an alternative to CEF's Good News Club. The Satanic Temple has every right, under the same terms as any other religious group, to rent school facilities for this purpose. It's the fifth such club currently active in the US.
This is of course in the heart of America's Bible Belt. TST's entirely legal request went over like the proverbial fart in church. The Satanic Temple announced that the After School Satan Club at Chimneyrock Elementary would commence on 10 January 2024. Soon after that, officials of the Memphis-Shelby County Schools spoke publicly about the matter.
This video is about twenty minutes long.
Interim Superintendent Toni Willis acknowledged the necessity of upholding school board policy, state law, and the constitution, while expressing her personal anathema non-support for The Satanic Temple and the After School Satan Club. She spoke while surrounded by a crowd of local Christian community leaders and supporters, some of whom also delivered comments; a few of them seem to be not quite as concerned as Ms Willis is about the law or the constitution. Ms Willis presented herself as being unable to prevent TST from operating it's after school club in her school district, because laws and constitution and stuff. But she has the sympathy and support of all these good people, pastors and others, to show that she wasn't doing it because she wanted to. She'd do it because she had to.
I tried to contact Chimneyrock Elementary School to ask for more information. The school's website uses a chat bot to respond to questions. It went about as well as expected.
Following the 10 January After School Satan Club event the decision was made to switch to a before school schedule. An announcement was posted on The Platform Formerly Known As Twitter.
Meanwhile, Memphis-Shelby County School District has gone out of their way to make it difficult for The Satanic Temple to operate their club. Which is where the Freedom From Religion Foundation enters the story. The FFRF is a tax-exempt nonprofit organization based in Madison, Wisconsin. Founded in 1976, the organization is dedicated to secularism, atheism, and the separation of church and state. They publish a newspaper called Freethought Today, and produce a radio show, Freethought Radio, broadcast live on Saturdays on WXXM-FM. The Freedom From Religion Foundation currently have five ongoing lawsuits, and previous wins which are listed on their website.
The lawsuit alleges violations of The Satanic Temple's rights under the First Amendment. The allegations include the Shelby County Board of Education not allowing TST to rent school facilities on the same terms as other nonprofit organizations (such as the Good News Club), charging The Satanic Temple discriminatory rental and security fees, including a "special security fee" of $2,045.60 plus a $250 charge for "field lights", refusing to distribute fliers and permission slips for the club, and refusing to adequately communicate with The Satanic Temple. (They failed to respond to numerous emails from TST). The Freedom From Religion Foundation notes that the Good News Club has not been charged these fees. The entire 39-page document is available to read as a PDF at ffrf.org/…
The nominal damages are listed on page 37 as $1. They are also seeking an award equivalent to the costs incurred in the process of filing the lawsuit.
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