The Satanic Temple often trolls the heck out of the mainstream population with stuntqueen statues and demands for people to sell their souls. Lots of folks figured that the After School Satan Club was meant to irritate parents, although it expressed the desire to help children develop social skills. However, there can be no doubt about the meaning of the Temple’s new billboards, which they’re placing near schools that use corporal punishment.
Yep, some schools still pull out the paddle and worse. In fact, nineteen states still allow some form of corporal punishment, and the Satanic Church aims to shame schools where children have been injured in the process. The first such billboard — which reads, “Never Be Hit In School Again … Exercise Your Religious Rights” — was recently erected in Springtown, Texas where a girl was paddled to the point where her welts looked like blisters and burns. All of this is part of the Protect Children Project:
“The Protect Children Project utilizes the First Amendment to protect public school students from being subjected to corporal punishment, solitary confinement, physical restraints, and the deprivation of bathroom access as these abusive practices violate our religious belief of bodily inviolability.”
These billboards carry the following objective, per Temple spokesperson Lucien Greaves, who spoke with no subtlety:
“Hopefully, our billboard will serve as a daily reminder to the citizens there that they live in a barbaric backwater town where dysfunctional and possibly sexually disturbed middle-aged men may titillate their depraved impulses by violently spanking teenaged girls.”
You may not be a fan of the Temple’s various antics, but they’re all too serious with this project. These billboards are receiving national attention, which will surely embarrass some schools (and possibly some states) into changing their practices. Whatever works, right?
(Via The Satanic Temple & Vice)