Children had a “great time” at the first meeting of an after-school Satan club at a Tennessee elementary school this week, organizers said, despite dozens of protesters who condemned the meeting.
On Wednesday, the After School Satan Club (ASSC), a federally recognized non-profit organization and national after-school program, held its first meeting at Chimneyrock elementary school in Memphis.
A club flyer said that the Satanic Temple was a non-theistic religion that views Satan as “a literary figure who represents a metaphorical construct of rejecting tyranny and championing the human mind and spirit”.
“After School Satan Club does not attempt to convert children to any religious ideology. Instead, the Satanic Temple supports children to think for themselves. All After School Satan Clubs … emphasize a scientific, rationalist, non-superstitious world view,” it added.
Activities promoted by the club include science projects, community service projects, puzzles and games, nature activities, arts and crafts and snacks, the flyer said.
Following the club’s first meeting at Chimneyrock elementary school, the Satanic Temple told WMC that “kiddos had a great time”.
Nevertheless, a crowd of protesters gathered outside the school, with many holding religious signs that said: “There is power in the blood of Jesus” and “There is room at the cross.” Other signs said: “The wages of sin is death” and “Schools in the name of Jesus”.
“What I want the school district to do is to obey the law … and allow God to take care of this because this fight is not between the school and the satanic club. This fight is between God and the satanic club, and God’s going to bring it down,” Charlotte Bergmann, the protest’s organizer, told WMC.
Meanwhile, another protester, Samantha Harmon, said, “There is no reason that Memphis should have ever allowed an after-school Satan club to come in. It’s time to revise policy and it’s time for parents to get on their post and pray and protect their kids.”
Speaking to WMC, ASSC’s national campaign director pushed back against criticisms, saying: “We don’t go to a school unless there is another religious club operating.”
WMC reports that the school currently has the Good News club, a Christian evangelical Bible club that meets before school hours.
According to the Satanic Temple’s website, the “pre-existing presence of evangelical after school clubs not only established a precedent for which school districts must now accept Satanic groups, but the evangelical after school clubs have created the need for Satanic after school clubs to offer a contrasting balance to student’s extracurricular activities.”
The ASSC also currently has active clubs in California, Ohio, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
