The Satanic Temple is increasing its work in schools across the country, trying to combat a rise in religious teachings.
The group, launched in 2013 to battle the “intrusion of Christian values on American politics,” recently began a religious release program in an Ohio school district and plans to expand to a district in Tennessee soon.
It does not seek to convert students toward Satan but wants to be a bulwark against increased religious education.
“A lot of people obviously hear the word Satan, and they tend to lose their minds wherever we go. There tends to be quite a community backlash,” said June Everett, campaign director for the After School Satan Club and Hellion Academy of Independent Learning (HAIL) for The Satanic Temple.
“I’m actually a little surprised that things have gone viral in Ohio, because we actually had three after school clubs in Ohio. It seems to be our most popular state, so I was thinking maybe launching the HAIL program in Marysville, that everybody would sort of be over us. But apparently, they are not,” she added.
The temple will be offering its HAIL program to elementary school students in Marysville as an alternative to the LifeWise Christian one that takes students out of school for 55 minutes a week for religious instruction.
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