The last time we talked about the Satanic Temple, they were showing off their bad ass statue from Oklahoma. This time, they shift their focus to Florida and Orange County’s new rules on allowing religious literature to be distributed on school grounds. An atheist group sued the school district to ensure that all beliefs (or lack of) could have a place under the new rules, but now they’ve opened the door for the Satanic Temple to move in. The Temple released a statement on September 15 that outlines their plans to provide the schools in Orange County with their own reading material:
The Satanic Temple’s spokesperson, Lucien Greaves, explains, “We would never seek to establish a precedent of disseminating our religious materials in public schools because we believe our constitutional values are better served by respecting a strong separation of Church and State. However, 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, as opposed to standing idly by while one religious voice dominates the discourse and delivers propaganda to youth.”
Who hasn’t wanted a Satanic coloring workbook to help pass the time between classes? You wouldn’t have to tell me twice, even if I’d be disappointed after finding out that their tenets are no different than basic common sense and understanding.
I just wonder why there is always such a focus on getting religion back in the classroom as opposed to improving the actual education you’re there to receive. Handing out Bibles is not going to do anything but give people ammo to hit each other with said Bibles.
(Via Boing Boing / The Satanic Temple)