After School Satan Club Coming to Connecticut Town

One Connecticut town is marking the beginning of December with the launch of an After School Satan Club, according to The Satanic Temple.

The Salem, Massachusetts-based organization announced the club's formation in a post on Instagram, saying it will launch on Dec. 1 at the Lebanon Elementary School in Lebanon, Connecticut.

According to the post, the After School Satan Club is not approved or sponsored by the school district or the school board.

The temple maintains that it is a non-theistic religion "that views Satan as a literary figure who represents a metaphorical construct of rejecting tyranny and championing the human mind and spirit."

Despite the club's name, the group said it does not worship the devil and said the goal of the club is not to convert children to any religious ideology. Instead, it's to "support children to think for themselves."

All club activities emphasize "a scientific, rationalist, non-superstitious worldview," according to the Instagram post.

Kids in the club will participate in science projects, community service projects, puzzles, games, nature activities and arts and crafts and snacks will be provided.

WFSB reported that parents were "sickened and outraged" by the decision to allow the club.

"They're trying to use events like this to recruit kids at a young age and steer them away from religion," Amy Bourdan, told WFSB.

Bourdan runs advocacy group Parent's Choice, which promotes religious freedom. In a separate interview with WTNH, she expressed concern that the Satanic Temple is operating like a religious organization.

"I think it's deceptive," she said. "I liken it to the Camel cigarettes used to entice the youth and children."

The Satanic Temple decided to launch an After School Satan Club in Lebanon because the school district already hosts an after school Good News Christian club, WFSB reported.

"We're not changing the politics here," temple co-founder Lucien Greaves told the outlet. "This is something people should have recognized from the start."

Other town residents said the club was an expression of freedom of speech and didn't have a problem with it.

"This is a free country," Dori Dougal, who lives in Lebanon, told NBC Connecticut. "We're supposed to have freedom of religion or no religion so I can understand both sides of the story."

Lebanon Public Schools Superintendent Andrew Gonzalez said in a statement that the district could run afoul of the First Amendment and "other applicable law" if it were to deny the group use of school facilities.

"The Lebanon Public Schools (LPS) allows outside organizations to use LPS facilities, in accordance with Board Policy 1007," Gonzalez told WFSB. "As such, LPS must allow community organizations to access school facilities, without regard to the religious, political, or philosophical ideas they express, as long as such organizations comply with the viewpoint-neutral criteria set forth in the policy."

"Not everyone will agree with, or attend meetings of, every group that is approved to use school facilities," he continued. "However, prohibiting particular organizations from accessing our school buildings based on the perspectives they offer or express could violate our obligations under the First Amendment and other applicable law and would not align with our commitment to non-discrimination, equal protection, and respect for diverse viewpoints."

After School Satan Clubs are likely to continue gaining in popularity after a U.S. district court in Pennsylvania ruled in April in favor of The Satanic Temple and the American Civil Liberties Union, which sued when a school district would not permit the club to meet on its grounds.

Rose Bastet, of Chesapeake, Virginia, said that "local Christian mom groups ... really stirred up a ruckus," over her After School Satan Club and tried to make it "seem like we were doing something nefarious."

Bastet, who has been involved with the temple for four years, said her club teaches kids about different types of animals.

"One of our meetings a couple of months ago, we learned about Virginia native bats," she said. "This last meeting, we had one of the parents in the club volunteer to bring in a bunch of bones and fossils that she and her husband have found in Virginia."