Rachel Lang
The Satanic Temple has filed a lawsuit against an American elementary school, after it was blocked from implementing an after school program for children.
The Northern York County School Board members in Pennsylvania voted down the approval of the program on April 19, after parents expressed concern of the devil having a place in the classroom.
The Satanic Temple, despite its name, has nothing to do with Lucifer but in fact focuses on teaching rational and scientific ways of thinking.
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According to local news reports, hundreds of parents showed up to the school board meeting to have their voices heard about letting 'Satan' into their children's education.
One parent said: “There is a lot of evil already in this world, so to allow it to come into our school and our community is not OK."
A second added: “Satan is a liar and Satan will show himself as light when in fact he’s not light."
Co-founder of Satanic Temple Lucien Greaves hit out at the school board for picking and choosing which religious organisations they give the green light to, while stressing the club doesn’t support worshipping Satan... or any religion at all.
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“The school board does not have the authority to decide which religious organisations they prefer holding after-school clubs and which one[s] they don’t," Greaves said, according to Local News 21.
“I hope that when people understand that it will be less easy for them to use these old witch hunter mythologies that never served a positive function."
Speaking to Fox News, Greaves said the Temple will happily litigate against the school board if they don't allow the club to go forward.
"If they deny us the use of a public facility, which they have no right to do it'll have to move into litigation, costly litigation that the community is going to have to pay for," Greaves told Fox.
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General counsel for The Satanic Temple, Mathew Kezhaya, said the main issue is whether or not the Northern York County School Board is discriminating against them by allowing some after school clubs to go ahead, but not others.
"The First Amendment prohibits a government from considering the popularity of communicative activity when determining whether to facilitate that communicative activity on equal terms with other, similarly situated, groups," he said.
According to Kezhaya, school officials have advised that if The Satanic Temple removes 'Satan' from its name, it would improve the chances it has of becoming an after school club.