Pennsylvania school board rejects request for Satan club

The after school programme teaches children critical thinking and focuses on science and art

A school board in Pennsylvania rejected a request for an after-school Satan Club at an elementary school.

Northern Elementary School in York rejected the club's application during Tuesday night's meeting. The club was proposed by a parent at the school, and was initially rejected by the school's principal but was granted a probationary vote at the board meeting.

"The After School Satan Club is an after-school programme that promotes self-directed education by supporting the intellectual and creative interests of students," the Satanic Temple writes on its website.

Similar groups have been opened in other school districts, according to Fox5. One club exists at an elementary school in Moline, Illinois. That move prompted protests from parents when the first after-school club met in January.

The Satanic Temple has pushed the clubs to oppose the Good News after school clubs offered by Christian groups.

According to the Satanic Temple, their after school clubs offer students science acitvities and craft projects as well as puzzles and games. They said students are taught benevolence, empathy, critical thinking, problem-solving and creative expression.

"I'm hoping that with our presence, people can see that good people can have different perspectives, sometimes on the same mythology, but not mean any harm," Lucien Greaves, a Satanic Temple spokesperson, told Fox News.

While the idea of a Satanic Temple-run school programme may alarm parents, its important to note that the Satanic Temple does not worship a literal Satan. The group was started as a pushback against Catholicism and conservative Christianity and promotes critical thinking and a rejection of dogmatism.

The parents in Pennsylvania who asked for the after school programme reportedly did so in response to the school allowing a bible study group to operate during school hours.

Though not explicitly stated, the Satanic Temple after school clubs are often launched as a means of testing whether or not a public school district will discriminate against religions that are not Christianity.

The Supreme Court decision Good News Club v. Milford Central School established that when the government is acting as a "limited public forum" it cannot discriminate against speech that takes place within the forum on the basis of its viewpoints. That allowed for Christian groups to start after-school clubs.

The After School Satan clubs cites the ruling as its justification for existing in public schools.

“The school board does not have the authority to decide which religious organisations they prefer holding after school clubs and which one they don’t," Mr Greaves said. “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.”