Elementary school children in the town of Lebanon will be able to join the After School Satan Club starting Dec. 1.
According to June Everett of Colorado, campaign director for the clubs, the Satan Club was requested by a parent from Lebanon Elementary School as an alternative to the Good News Club that meets there. It’s sponsored by the Satanic Temple, an atheist group.
Everett said it’s the first Satan Club in Connecticut.
“This particular parent was aware of the Good News Club and did not feel comfortable sending her children to the Good News Club and was more closely aligned with our seven tenets and our beliefs,” she said.
“So she reached out and asked if we can start an After School Satan Club at her kid’s elementary school, and so we went through the process and we lined up our volunteers to help with the club. And of course, the school district understands constitutional law and the First Amendment, so they approved us without any issues.”
There’s nothing evil about the club, Everett said.
“We identify with the statement that is in John Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost,’ where Satan stands up to the adversary and is essentially the ultimate rebel standing up for the rights of the other angels and the other people,” she said.
“I always have to explain to the Christians that you don’t have a monopoly on Satan,” Everett said. “We understand that he is a triggering evil, terrible being in your biblical world. But in our world, we look to him differently. And we consider him the embodiment of standing up to radical authority.”
Satan represents the freedom of equal access for minorities and the marginalized, including LGBTQ people, “because a lot of those people have been kicked out of their church or abandoned by family,” Everett said.
The club “focuses on science, critical thinking, creative arts, and good works for the community,” according to its website. “While engaged in all of these activities, we want…
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