The Satanic Temple, a radical religious group that calls the killing of unborn babies in abortions a spiritual “ritual,” is trying to indoctrinate young children now.
The Belleville News-Democrat reports parents at an Illinois school district recently voiced outrage after learning that the Satanic Temple is starting a club for elementary students this month at Jane Addams Elementary School in Moline.
A flyer posted online welcomes children in first through fifth grades to the “After School Satan Club” for fun and games, arts and crafts, and nature activities.
The Satanic Temple says the club will teach children about “critical thinking, benevolence, empathy, problem solving, creative expression and personal sovereignty.” It claims its club will not attempt to convert children, and its goal is to encourage children to think for themselves.
“This actually isn’t a club that’s meant to proselytize Satanism or even engage in discussions about religious opinion,” Satanic Temple co-founder Lucien Greaves told WQAD. “This is an educational program meant to focus on critical thinking and just basic education skills.”
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Despite parents’ outrage, school leaders said they cannot do anything to stop the club because of U.S. Supreme Court rulings about religious freedom in public schools.
“To illegally deny their organization to pay to rent our publicly-funded institution, after school hours, subjects the district to a discrimination lawsuit, which we will not win, likely taking thousands upon thousands of taxpayer dollars away from our teachers, staff and classrooms,” said Dr. Rachel Savage, the superintendent for Moline-Coal Valley Schools, in a statement this week.
Savage said the school itself and its teachers are not involved in the club.
Parents also must give their permission for students to attend, according to the flyer.
The Satanic Temple is deeply involved in abortion advocacy, and pro-abortion groups like Planned Parenthood have been going into schools for years to indoctrinate children with its pro-abortion agenda. Former abortion workers have warned that the abortion industry uses sex education programs to encourage risky sexual behavior and sell abortions.
Breitbart once described the work of the Satanic Temple as a “pro-abortion crusade to come to the aid of America’s largest abortion provider,” Planned Parenthood.
The religious group has filed multiple lawsuits in different states to overturn pro-life laws, though its attempts thus far have failed. Most recently, it filed a lawsuit challenging a Texas informed consent law that requires abortion facilities to provide basic information about abortion risks, an unborn baby’s development and alternatives to abortion to mothers prior to the abortion.
The Satanic Temple claims that an abortion is a “religious right” as well as a “ritual,” likening it to communion or baptism for Christians. In 2020, it even raffled off an abortion to raise money for its lawsuits.
Some of its members also attempt to intimidate peaceful pro-life sidewalk counselors through gruesome protests. In 2016, pro-life advocates outside of a Detroit, Michigan Planned Parenthood faced a disturbing scene when a group from the Satanic Temple arrived to counter-protest wearing baby masks and carrying whips. They held a similar protest on Good Friday in 2017.
