Satanic Temple co-founder Doug Mesner said that since Christian groups already have after-school programs, Satanists deserve a chance to do the same.
Mesner, whose professional name is Lucien Greaves, told the Washington Post that the Temple is petitioning schools to allow them to open After School Satan Clubs in the new school year.
He said the clubs are not about worshiping Satan, because the temple does not promote belief in a supernatural devil. Rather, the clubs are designed to promote scientific and rational thinking.
"It's critical that children understand that there are multiple perspectives on all issues, and that they have a choice in how they think," Mesner said.
On the group's website, he writes, "We prefer to give children an appreciation of the natural wonders surrounding them, not a fear of everlasting otherworldly horrors."
"We think it's important for kids to be able to see multiple points of view, to reason things through, to have empathy and feelings of benevolence for their fellow human beings," Chalice Blythe, Utah chapter leader, told the Post.
The club meetings will include a healthful snack, literature lesson, creative learning activities, puzzle solving, a science lesson, and an art project.
The Satanic Temple plans to use a 2001 Supreme Court ruling that said excluding an after-school program because of the religious views of its sponsors is a free-speech violation. A religious-right legal advocacy group, the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Liberty Counsel, were part of that effort.
Mesner said the Liberty Counsel's efforts led to the creation of the After School Satan Clubs, and told USA Today that presenting Satanists to the general public as hosts of an an after-school club presents a positive message.
"When they see people living normal, healthy, productive lives and being decent people, it makes them think more critically of the claims being put forth by evangelicals," Mesner said.
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