In Mount Vernon, Washington, schools must allow the Satanic Temple of Seattle to start an elementary school after-school club or else they will face “costly litigation,” according to a lawyer hired by the school district.
“I think that if the school district denied that application, you would face costly litigation that would be distracting from your mission,” Duncan Fobes, of the Seattle-based law firm Patterson, Buchanan, Fobes and Leitch, told the local press. “And would ultimately be unsuccessful.”
The Satanic Temple of Seattle is reacting to a parent that brought the Good News Bible Club to their attention, and they do not think it is right that children are being taught to evangelize to other children. To combat this, the Satanic Temple is seeking to teach children about “self-empowerment and reason,” according to their spokesman, Tarkus Claypool.
Board President Rob Coffey is unhappy, but sees no other option. “Very unfortunately, our hands are tied in this question, we must make our facilities available and in many cases we are eager to make them available to Boys & Girls Clubs, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts. We must make them available whether we like the group or not. There really is no opportunity for us to say ‘No’ to the Satanic Temple or the After School Satan Club.”
This school district is one of nine in the county that are currently receiving applications for an After School Satan Club, and because of a Supreme Court ruling in 2001 that allowed the Good News Bible Clubs to operate on campus, Seattle-area parents will soon see the After School Satan Club popping up around the county.
Mt Vernon School District & parents grapple with request by The Satanic Temple of #Seattle for afterschool club #komonews at 11pm pic.twitter.com/6N8VqGeSov
— Suzanne Phan (@SuzannePhan) September 22, 2016
Letter from The Satantic Temple of #Seattle to Mt. Vernon School District Superintendent- application for new afterschool club #komonews pic.twitter.com/qN9GsGhjx5
— Suzanne Phan (@SuzannePhan) September 22, 2016
ASSC has been approved by the Nea-ka-nie S.D. for Nehalem Elementary! Open house tomorrow at the school to get the word out. #TST #assc
— Satanic Portland (@tstpdx) September 21, 2016
