- A Pennsylvania parent's attempt to get an "After School Satan Club" started has gone up in flames.
- The school board in Northern York County School District voted 8-1 in opposition to the club.
- The Satanic Temple says it might resort to litigation to push for the club.
A Pennsylvania parent's push to get an After School Satan Club set up at one of the state's elementary schools has gone up in flames after a school board voted it down 8-1.
Hundreds of people turned up at Tuesday's meeting to voice their disapproval of the club, according to the York Daily Record.
Only one member of the Northern York County school board, Thomas Welch, voted in favor of the club.
A mother named Samantha Groome proposed the club. She said she was looking for a non-religious club for students at Northern Elementary School. Groome told the York Daily Record she proposed the After School Satan Club as a secular alternative to a local Christian club program.
But local parents were largely opposed to the club's creation.
"There is a lot of evil already in this world, so to allow it to come into our school and our community is not OK," said parent Laura Vangeli, according to CBS affiliate WHP-TV.
The Satanic Temple says the After School Satan Clubs "promote self-directed education by supporting the intellectual and creative interests of students." The Temple's website also says that the clubs are open to parents, who are welcome to participate.
The Temple also emphasizes that "proselytization is not our goal, and we're not interested in converting children to Satanism."
"After School Satan Clubs will focus on free inquiry and rationalism, the scientific basis for which we know what we know about the world around us," the Temple wrote.
The Satanic Temple has its official headquarters in Salem, Massachusetts. There are four After School Satan Clubs in the US — including one in Portland, Oregon, approved in 2016, and another in Moline, Illinois.
Ken Sechrist, the president of the Northern York County school board, told Newsweek that the board sent Groome a letter to explain why they rejected her request.
"In short, we start clubs when there is a student interest in a particular subject not covered in our curriculum," Sechrist told the outlet. "In this instance the requesting parent, when given the opportunity to provide evidence of any student interest, provided none."
In response to the school board's decision, the Satanic Temple's co-founder Lucien Greaves told the York Daily Record that he thought it was "religious discrimination" for the school to accept only "certain religious voices, but not others." Greaves added that the Satanic Temple may put up funds for litigation to push for the club under the First Amendment.
