Written by Don Byrd
In 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Good News Club v. Milford Central School that public schools may not refuse religious groups access to school property for meetings during non-school hours if they allow non-religious groups that opportunity.
New York State argued that out of concern for church-state separation, it should be allowed to bar religious groups from holding after-school clubs on school grounds. The Supreme Court did not agree. The right to free speech, the Court ruled, demands equal access for religious and non-religious viewpoints alike. (The BJC filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court defending the right of the Good News Club to meet in elementary schools after class.)
As a result, Good News clubs, which promote an evangelical Christian message, meet in thousands of schools across the country today.
Now, another group is organizing a national effort to make use of this same free speech right to establish its own after-school clubs. The Satanic Temple – yes, you read that correctly – argues that if religious clubs have a right to invite school children to join meetings on school property after hours, then it does too. The Washington Post reports:
The Satanic Temple on Monday contacted school districts across the country to announce that it wants to open after-school clubs that focus on teaching reason and science, including at an elementary school in Prince George’s. Temple leaders in part want to make the point that religion should not be taught in public schools, and they are working to start clubs in schools or school districts that have hosted proselytizing religious clubs, such as the Good News Club, which is allowed to sponsor groups in schools.
I must admit, I do not expect after-school Satan clubs to really catch on in our nation’s elementary schools, but what do I know? I do have 2 thoughts about this:
First, anti-religious groups like the Satanic Temple have a point, but attract attention by openly mocking religion and religious beliefs. They often have legitimate complaints about unnecessary and misguided efforts to promote religion within the structures of government – from courthouses to Capitol lawns to public schools. But their tactics, which include attempting to distribute Satanist coloring books to school children to counter the distribution of religious pamphlets, and contributing a diorama “depicting an angel falling into the pit of fire” for display alongside a Nativity Scene, can come across as a little…well, rude.
Their aim is as much to question religion altogether as it is to question religion’s relationship to government. But you can advocate for church-state separation without being anti-religion.
Second, what would the Satanic Temple have school officials do? In their holiday display protests, Satanic Temple (rightly) urges local governments to refrain from posting religious displays of any kind and to present only secular holiday images. But here the solution is not so simple. School officials cannot allow only secular after-school community clubs. That is what the Good News case was all about. If school districts want to restrict religious groups from forming after-school clubs, the Supreme Court gave them only one real choice: allow no after-school meetings for community groups of any kind, religious or secular.
That may be why many school officials seem to be unfazed by the request. As Ben Horsley, a spokesman for the Granite School District surrounding Salt Lake City, Utah remarked, “So as long as the activities are not illegal, we will treat these organizations all the same,” he said. For many school districts, ending all after-school clubs is simply not a reasonable option.
This blog post has been updated from a previous version.
