After School Satan clubs are reportedly gaining popularity “and are not likely to slow as their supporters rack up media attention and legal wins fighting for free speech,” the Hill reported on Tuesday.
The clubs, which are associated with the Satanic Temple, are currently only offered in primary schools, although the Satanic Temple is looking to expand into high schools, according to the report. The school clubs began in early 2020 and were viewed by some as an “alternative to religious clubs,” campaign director for the After School Satan Club June Everett told the outlet.
“That’s kind of when things started blowing up. And I anticipate that every year moving forward is going to get busier and busier,” Everett said.
The movement has gained momentum with the help of recent legal victories. Last Monday, a district court sided with the Satanic Temple and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which sued a Northampton County, Pennsylvania, school district for not allowing the club to meet on school grounds.
The Satanic Temple states on its website that it was founded in 2014 and seeks to “encourage benevolence and empathy, reject tyrannical authority.”
But as Breitbart News has previously reported, the Satanic Temple is engaged in a “pro-abortion crusade” and has repeatedly “come to the aid of America’s largest abortion provider.” The organization has notably filed multiple lawsuits in different states to overturn pro-life laws and claims pro-life laws deny the supposed right of an “‘involuntarily pregnant woman'” to engage in the “‘Satanic Abortion Ritual.'”
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The report claims that despite the association with the Satanic Temple, the students “are not actually getting proselytized or instruct[ed] in devil worship.” Rose Bastet, who has been involved with the Satanic Temple for four years, claimed that the clubs are “not interested in having children identify as satanists” and said her club focuses on learning about different animals.
However, Everett told the outlet that the program could change this coming fall because they are “considering teaching some of the seven core tenets of the Satanic Temple in the clubs,” according to the report. That plan has not been finalized.
Everett said that the organization has “a lot of big plans for next school year,” after speaking about a “children’s version” of the tenets of Satanism:
We just came out with a book that is like the children’s version — or I should say a very sweet way to interpret — the tenets in a very understanding way that children could understand. So we might start actually using this book to talk to the kids about our seven tenets.
Everett said the Satanic Temple is looking to expand to high schools but doing so is more difficult because high school clubs require more student engagement compared to primary schools, where groups are run by adults. The temple is hoping its new partnership with the Secular Student Alliance will help further its reach with older students, according to the report.
“[Secular Student Alliance’s] specialty is really college level and high school kids. So with their partnership, we hope to use them to help us get into more high schools and colleges,” Everett said.