An eastern Pennsylvania school district has agreed to fork out $200,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit from The Satanic Temple — and allow students to attend controversial After School Satan Club meetings on school facilities.
The Saucon Valley School District agreed to pay $200,000 in attorney’s fees while vowing to provide the club with the same access to campuses as other organizations get, despite previous fiery protests.
The lawsuit was filed with help from the American Civil Liberties Union, which called Thursday’s settlement “a victory for free speech and religious liberty.”
The district, about 60 miles north of Philadelphia, had initially agreed to allow school facilities to be used for the After School Satan Club, whose motto is “Educatin’ with Satan.”
It was accused of discriminating earlier this year when it withdrew permission following a fierce public outcry, culminating in protests and even a threat in February that led to schools shutting down for a day.
“We are pleased that this matter has been resolved and that the school district has agreed to stop all discrimination against us,” said June Everett, director of The Satanic Temple’s After School Satan Club programming.
“Thanks to the court’s order, we were able to hold [After School Satan Club] meetings at the Saucon Valley Middle School, and the kids who attended were overjoyed.
“It’s for them that we took on this legal fight in the first place, and we won’t hesitate to do so again if other school districts continue to enact discriminatory policies.”
The lawsuit centered around the claim that The Satanic Temple’s First Amendment rights were violated when the public school district refused to provide the After School Satan Club with the same right to convene as it extends to other religious groups like the Christian-based Good News Club.
A federal court agreed, granting the temple emergency judicial relief on the grounds that the club was denied equal access to school facilities “based on The Satanic Temple’s controversial views on religion and the community’s negative reactions thereto.”
In a statement to reporters, Saucon Valley school district attorney Mark Fitzgerald denied that the district had discriminated against the club.
“By enforcing its policies regarding the use of facilities, the district maintained a safe educational environment for its students in the face of credible threats of violence that had already caused closure of the schools and panic in the community,” Fitzgerald said.
Everett, the club’s director, told The Philadelphia Inquirer that the district’s After School Satan Club will still be on hold because the district-endorsed Good News Club had seemingly been disbanded. However, she said they would look to resurrect it should the Christian club resume.
Despite its name, The Satanic Temple actually has nothing to do with fire and brimstone or worshipping the devil.
Rather, it claims to utilize Satanic imagery in a subversive and at times satirical manner to advocate for equal representation and highlight examples of “religious hypocrisy” in which it sees Christianity being endorsed or promoted by schools or other public institutions over other belief systems.
The organization boasts more than 700,000 members across North America, Europe and Australia.
With Post wires
