Satanic Temple objects to governor’s push for more religion in schools and says members could act as student chaplains

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.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    1278·
    10 months ago

    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?

    • TheLowestStone@lemmy.world
      85·
      10 months ago

      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.

        • CleoTheWizard@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          10 months ago

          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.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
        55·
        10 months ago

        If that was the intent, they shouldn’t have intended it that way. Because people won’t take it that way.

    • aleph@lemm.eeEnglish
      111·
      10 months ago

      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.

      • JovialMicrobial@lemm.ee
        2·
        10 months ago

        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.

    • uis@lemm.ee
      9·
      10 months ago

      The whole point of calling themselves Satanists is to spook Christians, and the article is playing into the joke on purpose.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      10 months ago

      What sort of “dark messengers” preach compassion and justice?

      “Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand” (Daniel 12:10).

  • EnderWiggin@lemmy.world
    412·
    10 months ago

    “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.

  • Carrolade@lemmy.worldEnglish
    520·
    10 months ago

    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.