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?
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
Probably as good a time as any to point out the satanic temple actually sucks: https://youtu.be/3lV8GLQtOTs?si=H-8Obibrpz31jDri
Probably as good a time as any to point out religion across the board actually sucks: reality
Fixed that for you, got you champ!
While it’s true that theism is inherently harmful, The Satanic Temple isn’t a theistic organization. The problems with TST stem from the shithead that runs the org.
Despite that, they seem to be a problematic, but necessary force to fight religious extremism in the US. I’d prefer it if other secular orgs had the same reach and capabilities, but it seems TST is the best we have at the moment.
It’s a shame people are downvoting this, the satanic temple has ties to the far right and is not the great thing people think it is. They make bold claims to get news attention and donations but don’t follow through with action, and in the case of abortion rights claim that joining the temple will grant religious immunity when this is in fact false and actively harmful. Overall they distract attention from real activism without taking any real action. Watch the video essay in the parent comment to get the full picture.
This is discussed in depth in the video linkrd by the subthread post.
Stop thinking in dualities and binaries. It’s not so simple, but to my own dismay, Greaves is indeed a grifter, a chauvanist and all the bigotry that comes with it.
If you give a shit about the downtrodden, for whom the metaphorical Luci Morningstar is held up to empower (it is just an extension of christian lore after all), then listen to the non-men, non-white and queer folks who saw first hand how TST, following in CoS’ footsteps, took advantage of us.
This is discussed in depth in the video linkrd by the subthread post.
Stop thinking in dualities and binaries. It’s not so simple, but to my own dismay, Greaves is indeed a grifter, a chauvanist and all the bigotry that comes with it.
If you give a shit about the downtrodden, for whom the metaphorical Luci Morningstar is held up to empower (it is just an extension of christian lore after all), then listen to the non-men, non-white and queer folks who saw first hand how TST, following in CoS’ footsteps, took advantage of us.
Also important to point out the Satanic Temple is not the same as the Church of Satan (or Satanic Church as you’ve labeled it here).
This is the Satanic Temple, very different organization that only ever brings itself into the picture when Christians are trying to ram religion down people’s throats.
Little disingenuous to call secular atheists satanists, but I guess they sort of asked for it when they picked the very troll-ey name for their organization.
I don’t think volunteer and charity work is very satanic, at any rate.
I don’t think volunteer and charity work is very satanic, at any rate.
Why not?
Well, the only strong source for what could be satanic would be the various Abrahamic religious texts. I’m no expert, but I haven’t heard charity work being frequently associated with satanic principles in those pages.
You are letting Christians tell you what Satanists are instead of letting Satanists tell you what they are.
You mean Lucifer? The light bringer?
Or maybe the serpent that only told Eve that there’s nothing stopping her from eating the fruit that would allow her to understand the difference between good and evil?
How many people did Satan kill in the Bible? And Yahweh?
Who’s the actual bad guy here?
I would not consider the Abrahamic texts to be canon about Satanism. That’s like learning about Native American culture from Spanish conquistadors.
Burn churches!
“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.
Who are also not like that. My goodness. Let’s throw in another round of prejudices, shall we?
The whole point of calling themselves Satanists is to spook Christians, and the article is playing into the joke on purpose.
