Parents in Illinois have launched protests after the Satanic Temple started an after-school club for elementary students.
The so called 'Satan Club' was first held at the Jane Addams Elementary School in Moline, Illinois last month, when children were invited to stay behind after the conclusion of regular classes to take part in activities such as science and crafts projects, puzzles and games.
Minus the title the event sounds much like any other after-school club where children can pass the time until their parents or carers are available to take them home, and it was launched as part of a nationwide campaign by the Satanic Temple to push back against the Christian Good News Clubs being offered to children in about 5,000 schools across the United States.
Lucien Greaves, a spokesperson for the Satanic Temple, expressed hopes to Fox News that the after-school club would allow people to see that 'good people can have different perspectives, sometimes on the same mythology, but not mean any harm.'
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The Satanic Temple explained that children would have the chance to learn about benevolence, empathy, critical thinking, problem-solving and creative expression in their time spent at the club, but the inception of the programme was met with backlash from parents who gathered outside Jane Addams Elementary School to protest the move.
Greaves made clear that those running the sessions would not be 'including items of religious opinion' or 'teaching children about Satanism', but simply that students would 'know that this is taught by Satanists.'
He added: 'The after-school Satan Clubs were conceived of in order to give an alternative to [the] religious indoctrination [of] after-school programs'.
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Religious groups are allowed to operate after-school programmes in public schools under a 2001 Supreme Court ruling, and while Addams School has said it is not endorsing either the Satan Club or the Good News Club, it could not turn down any group due to the court ruling.
Reece Kauffman, president of Child Evangelism, which operates the Good News Clubs, has accused the Satanic Temple of 'doing the work of Satan, whether they want to acknowledge it or not, because this is what Satan would do.'
He added: 'Satan, the term itself, means evil. And this is not the influence you want to bring upon your children.'
According to the Satanic Temple website, the mission of the organisation is to 'encourage benevolence and empathy among all people, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense, oppose injustice, and undertake noble pursuits.'
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In spite of the turmoil caused by the group, Satan Club does not appear to be very popular with children, having attracted only the same two children to each of its meetings so far.
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Emily Brown