Traditionally, after-school programs are designed to help build necessary skills in a child’s early developmental phase and supplement their academics. Kids participate to meet friends, learn new hobbies, stay physically active, or simply brush up on their reading, writing, and arithmetic. And, for many parents, after-school programs have become de facto day-care centers.
However, if one organization has its way in cities and townships across America, children as young as five will be exposed to a totally new experience after school -- Satanism.
As shocking as it sounds, Satanists now are fighting for their “right” to sponsor after-school programs in states from California and Utah to Georgia. If these devil-worshipers have their way, youngsters will be targeted for indoctrination in programs created by an organization that has absolutely nothing positive to offer children of this – or any other -- age. Even more troubling is the fact that feckless school leaders actually are considering such requests. Instead of resoundingly rejecting the proposals, some school and local government officials are actually considering whether they may be legally obligated to entertain the requests. “Any organization can rent our facilities after school hours as long as they pay the fee and aren't doing anything illegal,” one Utah school district apologist told a local news station; laying the foundation for a possible decision to let the Satanic group into the school.
If school officials oppose political and ideological messaging that, as they claim, interferes with the proper and safe administration of the schools – often the excuse for denying permission for Second Amendment oriented clubs -- then Satanist ideology clearly would not pass the same litmus test. What business does an organization whose central philosophy hinges on hedonism and self-indulgence, have to do with the educational development of elementary school children?
With this in mind, the decision by government officials that “After School Satan” is not an acceptable club for young students should be a no-brainer. Yet, instead of rejecting the proposals out of hand, these ninnies dither and fret about saying “no” out of fear they might offend the sensitivities of the Left; or, worse, be accused of favoring Christianity.
To the Satanists behind this trolling of public schools and local governments, the push for Satanic after-school programs is in one sense a finger in the eye of Christians. The initiative comes from the same organization that has pushed to have statues of its Satanic idol placed next to, or in place of, public displays of other religions; in particular, those of Christianity. To the Satanic Temple, such theatrics are designed to mock and belittle Christianity; but more troubling, they serve as a way to legitimize and mainstream a culturally destructive world view.
The problem is not so much that there are devil worshippers among us; they always have been. The more serious issue is that government bureaucrats have been so beaten-down by political correctness and homogenizing judicial decisions, that they stand like deer in the headlights of an on-coming vehicle whenever confronted by any fringe group demanding access to children’s minds.
The Satanists and other secularists must be giddy in the face of such fecklessness. “If we’re really lucky, [the After School Satan clubs] might lead some public school officials to reexamine the wisdom of maintaining policies that have opened the door for extremely aggressive Christian fundamentalist groups to target very young children,” writes one organization dedicated to eradicating any overlap between Church and State.
One wonders how a secular organization with no supernatural beliefs or tenets even qualifies as a “religious” organization rather than some sort of off-beat philosophical movement, which would make this (at least arguably) a genuine “Church and State” issue. The Left hardly lets such facts stand in the way of a good Christian-bashing. Moreover, as is well-known, the Left’s hatred of Christianity has taken many other irrational forms in the past -- from throwing to the wind constitutionally-guaranteed religious liberty protections that benefit worshipers of all faiths simply because they wrongly perceive such protections to be exclusively for “Christians,” to harassing public school athletic programs for displaying the audacity to pray for safety and good sportsmanship before games.
It doesn’t matter what good deeds Christian organizations perform – from raising money for the poor, to providing healthcare to the needy, or giving children from broken homes a temporary escape from the hellish life awaiting them when they come home from school. The Left will stop at nothing to steamroll over it for the sake of keeping religion out of the public domain. If that means poisoning our children’s minds by exposing them to Satanism at the earliest ages of development, so be it.
For voters who live in districts where such clubs are being proposed, it is high time to let district school officials and other government leaders know that cowardice in the face of this challenge is not acceptable. And that if they won’t vote to stop the clubs, voters can easily find those who will with the next election.