Written by Don Byrd
Orange County Schools in Florida have allowed groups to distribute religious pamphlets and Bibles in public schools in recent years. Now, a group calling themselves Satanists in New York is insisting on the right to distribute their own literature in Orange County as a form of protest.
The Orlando Sentinel reports the group wants to distribute literature including “The Satanic Children’s Big Book of Activities.”
“If a public school board is going to allow religious pamphlets and full Bibles to be distributed to students, as is the case in Orange County, Florida, we think the responsible thing to do is to ensure that these students are given access to a variety of differing religious opinions,” said [Satanic] temple co-founder and spokesman Lucien Greaves.
The district has not received a formal request from the temple, but school officials say they reserve the right to review materials.
Orange County Schools attorney Woody Rodriguez says other religious literature distributions have been allowed to avoid lawsuits, according to the report. Do school officials have to decide between saying no to everyone or yes to everyone? Is discretion the same as discrimination?
