Satanic Temple objects to governor’s push for more religion in schools and says members could act as student chaplains
Dark messengers of satanism could soon be walking the hallways of Florida’s public schools, and it’s a consequence of hard-right governor Ron DeSantis’s push for more religion in education.
Members of the Satanic Temple say they are poised to act as volunteer chaplains under a state law that took effect this week opening campuses to “additional counseling and support to students” from outside organizations.
Although HB 931 leaves the implementation of chaplain programs to individual school districts, and only requires schools to list a volunteer’s religion “if any”, DeSantis has made clear its intent is to restore the tenets of Christianity to public education.
Without the bill, DeSantis said at its signing in April: “You’re basically saying that God has no place [on campus]. That’s wrong.”
The satanists see the law, which comes amid a vigorous theocratic drive into education by the religious right nationally, as an equal opportunity: if Christian chaplains are permitted access to students, often at the most vulnerable and impressionable stages of their lives, then so are they.
Dark messengers of satanism
Fucking Guardian… either falling for stupid propaganda or using scare words. Shameful either way.
The Satanic Temple’s Seven Fundamental Tenets:
I. One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.
II. The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
III. One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.
IV. The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one’s own.
V. Beliefs should conform to one’s best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one’s beliefs.
VI. People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one’s best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.
VII. Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.
https://thesatanictemple.com/blogs/the-satanic-temple-tenets/there-are-seven-fundamental-tenets
What sort of “dark messengers” preach compassion and justice?
I think that was meant to be tongue in cheek. The article also says:
There are, however, no plans to introduce studies of the dark arts or satanic rituals to any classroom. The Satanic Temple champions Satan not as a literal, omnipresent demon, but as a symbol of rebellion and resistance to authoritarianism. It says its strategy here is to highlight flagrant violations of the constitutionally protected separation of church and state.
Well this just proves that I’m right when I say their name is a double edged sword. On one hand, it’s inflammatory and mocking which creates a unique angle to engage politics with. Stirs up evangelicals while also being entirely harmless, making them look foolish.
But on the other hand, seen here and elsewhere, it creates confusion that limits the organization to just antagonism at times. I wish there were more non-antagonistic humanist groups for this exact reason.
It was, but it was a poor time to joke when it’s such a common misconception.
It’s a good thing it’s a common misconception. The misconception is the point.
To be fair, they call themselves The Satanic Temple. If they didn’t want to court the “dark messenger” notoriety in the first place, they would just call themselves something serious like The Humanist Society.
You bring up a good a point, and it is meant to be provocative on purpose. It really helps remind Christian people of the importance of separation of religion and state when they see Satanic statues next to the ten commandments after they pass legislature requiring display of religious symbols and what not.
It’s one of the only effective ways to get these people to stop trying to push their religion on everyone else. Those types don’t typically listen to reason or compromise with others, for that matter.
I’ve seen religious people treat the word Humanist as if it was a dirty word right alongside atheist and then conflating atheism and humanism with Satanism. “The best trick Satan ever pulled was making you believe he isn’t real.”
I suspect The Satanic Temple figured that no matter what they called themselves it’d be demonized so they beat the Christians to it.
Guessing you didn’t read the article, since they elaborated more about the Satanic temple further down?
Dude, it’s tongue in cheek. It’s meant to be funny. Even if you don’t find it so, it very obviously wasn’t meant to be taken seriously
Thank God we have Satanists.
“Dark messengers for Satanism”… Modern journalism really is fucking stupid. The Satanic Temple doesn’t do anything like that, and starting your article out that way comes across as totally unserious and diminishes the work the Satanic Temple is actually out there doing.
The whole point of calling themselves Satanists is to spook Christians, and the article is playing into the joke on purpose.
Who are also not like that. My goodness. Let’s throw in another round of prejudices, shall we?
More Goths In Schools
“More Goths, Less Cloths” has a nice ring to it if someone wants to use that as a campaign slogan for a school board seat.
I misread that as Clothes and was going to note that they will deal with minors …
Hail Satan ⛧
