Satanic Temple’s after-school club sparks protest from parents and public in Ohio community

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An after-school event hosted by The Satanic Temple generated protest from parents and local residents in Lebanon, Ohio. 

Key Players

The Satanic Temple (TST), which describes itself as a human rights organization, professes religious pluralism and the separation of church and state, often using satanic imagery and symbolism to make its point. TST says it does not worship or believe in the existence of Satan, nor the existence of the supernatural. The first of its seven tenets states, “One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.” TST is an organization primarily based in the United States and has chapters across the country. It also has congregations in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

Superintendent Isaac Seevers directs the Lebanon City Schools, a district with more than 5,000 students northeast of Cincinnati, and was previously superintendent of Greeneview Local School District in Jamestown, Ohio.

Further Details

The Missouri-based Evangelical Christian organization, Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF), runs Good News Clubs across the country, an after-school Bible study program. 

In 2001, CEF brought a civil case before the Supreme Court of the United States, Good News Club v. Milford Central School, where the court ruled that the First Amendment protected religious groups from viewpoint discrimination when they submit requests to hold after-school meetings in school facilities.

“When Milford denied the Good News Club access to the school’s limited public forum on the ground that the Club was religious in nature, it discriminated against the Club because of its religious viewpoint in violation of the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote.

In 2016, TST chose to pilot “After School Satan Clubs” at nine school districts around the country, specifically those who hosted Good News Clubs. According to TST, the mission of the “After School Satan Clubs” centers around healthy intellectualism and emotional development for children.

“Proselytization is not our goal, and we’re not interested in converting children to Satanism. After School Satan Clubs will focus on free inquiry and rationalism, the scientific basis for which we know what we know about the world around us. We prefer to give children an appreciation of the natural wonders surrounding them, not a fear of everlasting other-worldly horrors,” a statement reads. 

TST first filed an application for its after-school club in Mount Vernon, Washington. The Mount Vernon school district retained a lawyer to see if it could deny the request, but per the 2001 SCOTUS ruling in Good News Club v. Milford Central School, Mount Vernon had to approve of TST’s application, the Skagit Valley Herald reported. 

Other cities TST applied to include Atlanta; Detroit; Los Angeles; Salt Lake City; Portland, Oregon; Tacoma, Washington; and Tucson, Arizona. Of these, the Los Angeles Unified School District was the only one to reject the application, the Los Angeles Times reported. According to the LA School Report, Satanists considered possible legal action in response to the rejection, but as of June 9, 2022, no further public discussion of such a club has occurred in the LA Unified School District.

In 2022, TST turned its focus to Donovan Elementary in Lebanon, Ohio. A flier advertising the club widely circulated on social media, boasting of science projects, puzzles, games, and nature activities, as well as arts and crafts. The flier also said the event would include nontheistic extracurricular classes intended to foster children’s intellectual and emotional development.

Outcome 

Parents protest, school district responds

Despite the after-school activities listed in the flier, parents expressed concern with the ostensibly satanic organization. 

On Jan. 20, 2022, Seevers sent a letter to parents to clear up “concerns and confusion” surrounding the matter, citing the 2001 SCOTUS ruling as to why the district could not discriminate against outside organizations. 

“Across the nation, The Satanic Temple After-School Satan Club intends to meet at public schools where Good News Clubs also operate,” Seevers wrote. “Either the District’s facilities are to be made available to all groups or to no groups, according to a 2001 Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Good News Club, citing if public schools rent their facilities to secular groups, they must also rent to religious groups.” 

Joseph Moberly, a Donovan Elementary School parent, told the Ohio Press Network that Seevers should not have approved a Satanist club, despite the federal ruling. 

“The superintendent should have presented to the public instead of rubber stamping the application,” Moberly said. “Many of us are understandably angry about an organization that is associating Satan with benevolence and empathy, and teaching impressionable children that Satan is a mythical creature that represents individual freedom.”

On Jan. 26, 2022, in a follow-up message, Seevers urged parents and members of the public not to protest the After School Satan Club, citing safety concerns.

After School Satan Club successfully holds first meeting

Despite the district’s pleas, a handful of local residents protested across the street from the school. 

Police were on site in case of conflict but only stepped in to constrain a local evangelist who had set up a microphone and speaker near residents’ homes. Dayton Daily News reported that seven adults and two students participated in the inaugural meeting of the After School Satan Club at Donovan Elementary. 

Maggy McDonel, a Lebanon City Schools graduate, penned a column in CityBeat, a local newspaper, criticizing the community response for having missed The Satanic Temple’s point. 

“I am far from surprised that the citizens took the bait from the Satanic Temple so easily, and, by clutching their pearls and panicking, immediately accomplished the temple’s goal of raising awareness about religion in schools,” wrote McDonel. 

Although TST did not respond to the controversy, it seemed the organization had accomplished its goal of starting a dialogue around Free Speech, the First Amendment, and separation of church and state. 

TST publishes press release in support of abortion access

Following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, TST said in a press release that they will “take steps, including legal action, to ensure our members do not have to endure hindrances to access,” advocating for religious access to abortion.

In Feb. 2021, TST filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas Houston Division alleging that Texas anti-abortion laws abridged the religious rights of a TST member who wanted an abortion. This suit was pending the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs and has since begun to advance in district court.