An eastern Pennsylvania school district has agreed to spend $200,000 to settle discrimination claims from The Satanic Temple — and allow students to attend controversial After School Satanic Club meetings in school facilities.
The Saucon Valley School District agreed to pay $200,000 in attorneys’ fees while pledging to provide the club the same access to the campus as other organizations have had, despite previous fiery protests.
The lawsuit was filed with help from the American Civil Liberties Union, which called Thursday’s settlement a “victory for free speech and religious freedom.”
The district, about 60 miles north of Philadelphia, initially agreed to allow school facilities to be used for the After School Satan Club, whose motto is “Educate with Satan.”
It was accused of discrimination earlier this year when it withdrew permission following public outcry, culminating in protests and even threats in February that closed schools for a day.
Saucon Valley School District parents and community members met the February 2022 approval of an “After School Devil Club” with protests, prompting the district to withdraw permission for the club to meet on campus.FOX43
“We are pleased that this matter has been resolved and that the school district has agreed to stop all discrimination against us,” said June Everett, director of The Satanic Temple’s After School Satanic Club program.
“Thanks to the court order, we were able to hold on [After School Satan Club] meeting at Saucon Valley Middle School, and the children who attended were very happy.
“It was for them that we took this legal action in the first place, and we will not hesitate to do so again if other school districts continue to enact discriminatory policies.”
The After School Satan Club uses the slogan “Educatin’ With Satan.” FOX43 An After School Satanic Club has been launched in the district by the advocacy group The Satanic Temple in response to FOX43
The lawsuit centers on claims that The Satanic Temple’s First Amendment rights were violated when the public school district refused to grant the Satanic After School Club the same right to convene as it does to other religious groups such as the Christian-based Good News Club.
A federal court agreed, granting the temple emergency judicial relief on the grounds that the club was denied equal access to school facilities “based on The Satanic Temple’s controversial views on religion and the community’s negative reaction to it.”
In a statement to reporters, Saucon Valley school district attorney Mark Fitzgerald denied that the district had discriminated against the club.
Following her victory in a lawsuit brought by the ACLU last March, June Everett, Director of The Satanic Temple, said students at Saucon Valley High School were “overjoyed.” FOX43
“By enforcing its policy on facility use, the district maintains a safe educational environment for its students in the face of credible terrorist threats that have caused school closures and community panic,” Fitzgerald said.
Everett, the club’s director, told The Philadelphia Inquirer that the district’s After School Satan Club will still be delayed because the district’s supported Good News Club appears to have disbanded. However, he said they would work to revive it if the Christian club was resumed.
Despite its name, The Satanic Temple actually has nothing to do with fire and brimstone or worshiping the devil.
Instead, it claims to use Satanic imagery subversively and sometimes satirically to support the same representation and highlights examples of “religious hypocrisy” where it sees Christianity supported or promoted by schools or other public institutions over other belief systems.
The organization has more than 700,000 members across North America, Europe and Australia.
With Postal wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
