The Satanic Temple recently opened an after-school “Satan Club” in a Moline, Illinois, elementary school, as part of its nationwide campaign to push back against the Christian Good News Clubs offered to schoolchildren after regular-hour classes.
Parents protested outside the Jane Addams Elementary School in Moline when the first after-school Satan Club met there last month. A few people came out to protest the club’s second meeting as well.
It’s why some say that spiritual warfare is now taking place in America’s public schools.
The Satanic Temple, which runs the program, said students would be offered activities such as science and crafts projects, puzzles and games — and that they would learn about benevolence, empathy, critical thinking, problem-solving and creative expression.
The Satanic Temple is not hiding the fact that it created the clubs to take on the Christian club called the Good News Club — which has become its No. 1 nemesis.
Reece Kauffman, president of Child Evangelism, which operates the Good News Clubs, said of the Satanic Temple, “I cannot tell you what’s in their hearts, but they certainly are doing work that would be contrary to the Good News of Jesus Christ.”
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2001 that religious groups could operate after-class programs in public schools.
Good News Christian Clubs are now in about 5,000 schools nationwide.