Satanic Temple objects to governor’s push for more religion in schools and says members could act as student chaplains

Dark messengers of satanism could soon be walking the hallways of Florida’s public schools, and it’s a consequence of hard-right governor Ron DeSantis’s push for more religion in education.

Members of the Satanic Temple say they are poised to act as volunteer chaplains under a state law that took effect this week opening campuses to “additional counseling and support to students” from outside organizations.

Although HB 931 leaves the implementation of chaplain programs to individual school districts, and only requires schools to list a volunteer’s religion “if any”, DeSantis has made clear its intent is to restore the tenets of Christianity to public education.

Without the bill, DeSantis said at its signing in April: “You’re basically saying that God has no place [on campus]. That’s wrong.”

The satanists see the law, which comes amid a vigorous theocratic drive into education by the religious right nationally, as an equal opportunity: if Christian chaplains are permitted access to students, often at the most vulnerable and impressionable stages of their lives, then so are they.

  • Carrolade@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Little disingenuous to call secular atheists satanists, but I guess they sort of asked for it when they picked the very troll-ey name for their organization.

    I don’t think volunteer and charity work is very satanic, at any rate.

      • Carrolade@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Well, the only strong source for what could be satanic would be the various Abrahamic religious texts. I’m no expert, but I haven’t heard charity work being frequently associated with satanic principles in those pages.

        • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          3 months ago

          You mean Lucifer? The light bringer?

          Or maybe the serpent that only told Eve that there’s nothing stopping her from eating the fruit that would allow her to understand the difference between good and evil?

          How many people did Satan kill in the Bible? And Yahweh?

          Who’s the actual bad guy here?

    • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.org
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      3 months ago

      “More Goths, Less Cloths” has a nice ring to it if someone wants to use that as a campaign slogan for a school board seat.

      • Phineaz@feddit.org
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        3 months ago

        I misread that as Clothes and was going to note that they will deal with minors …

  • ToucheGoodSir@lemy.lol
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    3 months ago

    What are they going to do? Arrest them? There are only so many resources the state of Florida can throw at stupid shit like this before their economy implodes. But hey, the tax payers their will pay for it. In state, and federally.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Dark messengers of satanism

    Fucking Guardian… either falling for stupid propaganda or using scare words. Shameful either way.

    The Satanic Temple’s Seven Fundamental Tenets:

    I. One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.

    II. The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.

    III. One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.

    IV. The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one’s own.

    V. Beliefs should conform to one’s best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one’s beliefs.

    VI. People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one’s best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.

    VII. Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.

    https://thesatanictemple.com/blogs/the-satanic-temple-tenets/there-are-seven-fundamental-tenets

    What sort of “dark messengers” preach compassion and justice?

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      What sort of “dark messengers” preach compassion and justice?

      “Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand” (Daniel 12:10).