Florida schools have to let satan in.

[browncoatslytherin]

The booklet is adorable! I haven't checked out their page, but I'm betting that this "satanic temple" is along the same line as the church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, i.e. created for protest/trolling purposes. But who knows, it might very well feed into the public-school-is-satan hysteria, and drive even more barely-literate parents into "homeschooling".

actually, as far as i can tell, it is not a troll group. simply a group of satanists that are tired of taking shit from christians in a christian biased nation.

from their own site, their mission:

[The] mission of The Satanic Temple is to encourage benevolence and empathy among all people. In addition, we embrace practical common sense and justice.

As an organized religion, we feel it is our function to actively provide outreach, to lead by example, and to participate in public affairs wheresoever the issues might benefit from rational, Satanic insights. As Satanists, we all should be guided by our consciences to undertake noble pursuits guided by our individual wills. We believe that this is the hope of all mankind and the highest aspiration of humanity.

you really should check out their page, it's quite neat.

thesatanictemple.com/

[Swamptribe]

A real case of 'be careful what you wish for'. Love the irony of such things. Sometimes, I'm proud of my state.

[Mama Mia]

actually, as far as i can tell, it is not a troll group. simply a group of satanists that are tired of taking shit from christians in a christian biased nation.

from their own site, their mission:

you really should check out their page, it's quite neat.

thesatanictemple.com/

What I found really strange about their website was that they seem to exist primarily to get involved in religious legal battles, so must have highly educated people on staff - but- the entire site had absolutely atrocious grammar and writing. It was a very bizarre combination.

I know that my grammar and writing are probably awful -- but I'm not at work.

[FloraKitty35]

It reminds me of the vacation Bible school literature from the 80's. :) Cerberus is a cute illustration.

[browncoatslytherin]

What I found really strange about their website was that they seem to exist primarily to get involved in religious legal battles, so must have highly educated people on staff - but- the entire site had absolutely atrocious grammar and writing. It was a very bizarre combination.

I know that my grammar and writing are probably awful -- but I'm not at work.

thought: maybe i don't understand the difference between a "troll" group and a "real" group, but i thought a troll group would be comprised of people who didn't necessarily hold to the tenants but wanted to label just to harrass people. versus a real group would be a group comprised of true believers who wanted to be politically active. but, upon further thinking, perhaps others have different definitions of this. in one sense, yes, the website and possibly the whole group was created solely for political activism. but, as far as i could tell, from their mission, they are espousing common beliefs held by real satanists. can someone clarify if my explanation constitutes a troll group or not?

[whoviana]

For anyone curious, the pdf of the children's book is here:

thesatanictemple.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Activity_Book.pdf

Thx! Let's learn something new today! :)

[ViolaSebastian]

uh oh, i think you've been watching too much geraldo. seriously, everything you just said has absolutely nothing to do with actual satanism. maybe try looking into it yourself first, you'll find it's very different than what the fundies espouse it to be.

i hope you don't also think that witchcraft and paganism worships satan.

Read, learn, enjoy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanic_ri ... oral_panic

[lemondrop]

thought: maybe i don't understand the difference between a "troll" group and a "real" group, but i thought a troll group would be comprised of people who didn't necessarily hold to the tenants but wanted to label just to harrass people. versus a real group would be a group comprised of true believers who wanted to be politically active. but, upon further thinking, perhaps others have different definitions of this. in one sense, yes, the website and possibly the whole group was created solely for political activism. but, as far as i could tell, from their mission, they are espousing common beliefs held by real satanists. can someone clarify if my explanation constitutes a troll group or not?

I think that I meant primarily that it is not a real religious group, as in, its members don't necessarily espouse any supernatural beliefs. I'm guessing that it's a group created specifically to oppose the incursions of religion into government/schools, and doing so under the auspices of "satanism" is the best way to get a reaction from conservative Christians and prove a point. I have no doubt that they actually hold the (secular humanist, from the sounds of it) values that they claim. I brought up Flying Spaghetti Monster "religion" because it was started by non-religious people to protest the teaching of creationism in schools (and to highlight creationism as silly and arbitrary). I doubt any FSM-ers seriously worship His Noodly Appendage. I might be wrong, and maybe these Satanists do actually pray to Satan, but I don't get this impression.

[Formosa]

uh oh, i think you've been watching too much geraldo. seriously, everything you just said has absolutely nothing to do with actual satanism. maybe try looking into it yourself first, you'll find it's very different than what the fundies espouse it to be.

i hope you don't also think that witchcraft and paganism worships satan.

It might not have been to do with "actual" satanism but there are incidents involving satanic cults. There is more but I don't have the time to look it up right now.

http://www.dw.de/difficult-to-escape-ab ... /a-5904978

[16strong]

I don't get this, at all. It's not like fundies would EVER send their kids to public school. And even if Public schools WERE appropriately fundamentalist, many of them STILL wouldn't send their kids. Why do they continually put so much effort into something they themselves have no intention of associating with?

[browncoatslytherin]

It might not have been to do with "actual" satanism but there are incidents involving satanic cults. There is more but I don't have the time to look it up right now.

http://www.dw.de/difficult-to-escape-ab ... /a-5904978

that sounds a lot like the false claims that were thrown around starting in the 80's. is there anything more to this? an actual name for the group? names of members? documents? knowing some of the far-fetched claims made that have been proven false, and considering the similarity to what is claimed in this article, i'm pretty skeptical for now.

[browncoatslytherin]

I think that I meant primarily that it is not a real religious group, as in, its members don't necessarily espouse any supernatural beliefs. I'm guessing that it's a group created specifically to oppose the incursions of religion into government/schools, and doing so under the auspices of "satanism" is the best way to get a reaction from conservative Christians and prove a point. I have no doubt that they actually hold the (secular humanist, from the sounds of it) values that they claim. I brought up Flying Spaghetti Monster "religion" because it was started by non-religious people to protest the teaching of creationism in schools (and to highlight creationism as silly and arbitrary). I doubt any FSM-ers seriously worship His Noodly Appendage. I might be wrong, and maybe these Satanists do actually pray to Satan, but I don't get this impression.

true, it could be a front, although it espouses very similar values. but i don't think we'll really know for sure unless one of the members confirms something either way.

[It'sFunToRun]

I don't get this, at all. It's not like fundies would EVER send their kids to public school. And even if Public schools WERE appropriately fundamentalist, many of them STILL wouldn't send their kids. Why do they continually put so much effort into something they themselves have no intention of associating with?

First of all, even though Duggar type fundies don't send their kids to public schools, plenty of very conservative Christians do.

Second, the reason that the put so much effort into something they themselves have no intention of associating with is because they care. You can be cynical and say that they care about keeping the schools more fundie so that the kids will be more likely to be anti-choice or whatever, but I think that most of them genuinely care about other people and think that their way is the best. I wouldn't want public schools teaching kids that tobacco is healthy, even if I homeschooled.

[shedemei]

Well, I'm not in favour that any child should be exposed to some Satanic religion at all. (around here, Satanists have really killed some people and injured some in their horrible "rituals")

But I truly hope that this kind of satanic temple is merely some kind of sarcastic mock religion.

And well, it's good if those Christian fundies and conservatives get a taste of their own medicine for once...

Where is "here"?

[browncoatslytherin]

First of all, even though Duggar type fundies don't send their kids to public schools, plenty of very conservative Christians do.

Second, the reason that the put so much effort into something they themselves have no intention of associating with is because they care. You can be cynical and say that they care about keeping the schools more fundie so that the kids will be more likely to be anti-choice or whatever, but I think that most of them genuinely care about other people and think that their way is the best. I wouldn't want public schools teaching kids that tobacco is healthy, even if I homeschooled.

sorry, but satanism is not like smoking. the two are completely different things. honestly, i don't want any kind of religion in schools. but, if the fundies wanna push christianity into schools, then fuck it, let's expose kids to more than just christianity.

[It'sFunToRun]

sorry, but satanism is not like smoking. the two are completely different things. honestly, i don't want any kind of religion in schools. but, if the fundies wanna push christianity into schools, then fuck it, let's expose kids to more than just christianity.

Sorry that I wasn't clear. I don't think that satanism is like smoking, I was just using smoking as an example of why people would care about what is being taught in school, even if they don't have kids in school.

[browncoatslytherin]

all good. knowing you by your posts, i figured it was something like that. but i had to make sure. :) sorry if i seemed hand-slappy.

[doggie]

Well these christens are finally learning the true meaning of religious freedom

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/10/24 ... -to-blame/

Florida schools are being put in yet another impossible position after allowing conservative “Christians†to hand out religious materials to students last year.

Because Christians were allowed to have access to students at Orange County Public Schools, the floodgates have officially been opened as other religious groups line up to pass out their own materials. In August, a judge ruled that the school must welcome the Satanic Temple, which has created an activity book for children giving them instructions on ways to be inclusive of others.

Now, atheists want their opportunity to distribute materials to students. And conservatives are going to flip out when they discover what children are going to be exposed to thanks to their own obsession with forcing religion upon schools.

In protest of the school allowing religious groups to participate in National Religious Freedom Day, the Freedom From Religion Foundation intends to join the party themselves armed with their own pamplets and books for students to read.

One book they plan to bring is “Jesus Is Dead,†by Robert Price, which the school has banned in the past, claiming that it isn’t age appropriate. You know, because letting Christians distribute a book that includes 1,318 violent passages and instances of rape, adultery, and polygamy is just peachy.

Well, if school officials didn’t like that book, they certainly aren’t going to like this one.

The FFRF also plans to hand out copies of a pamphlet titled “An X-Rated Book: Sex and Obscenity in the Bible,†which includes an image of a Bible sexually assaulting a woman who is trying to escape.

According to Andrew Seidel, an attorney for FFRF, the pamphlet is far less inappropriate for high school students than anything that’s in the Bible.

I think if you look at the content of that brochure and what is actually in the Bible, and some of the things that are in the Bible in terms of sex and compare that to the cover [of the pamphlet], the cover is pretty tame compared to anything that is in the Bible.

The school, however, is already suggesting that they will try to block the FFRF from handing out their materials, which would violate the rights of atheists while demonstrating a bias that favors Christians. In a statement, Orange County Public Schools communications director Katherine Marsh said:

[The media] have perpetuated this terrible rumor that Satanists are coming in. It is incorrect to say that at this time this organization has asked for and received clearance to hand out this pamphlet in Orange County Public Schools.

Perhaps school officials are confused about what religious freedom means. After all, they’re certainly confused about what separation of church and state means. If the school is unwilling to ban a book as violent and sexist as the Bible from being handed out to their students, they should allow atheists and satanists to hand out whatever religious materials they want. The materials may offend school officials, parents, and some students, but many are offended by the Bible as well. The fact is, if anyone seriously objects to these materials being handed out, they only have themselves to blame. Because the school allowed Christians to hand out religious materials to students in a public school where separation of church and state is supposed to be observed, they opened the doors for other groups to distribute their own materials.

That means atheists and satanists have the right to be represented in schools and it doesn’t matter how many temper tantrums are thrown by conservative “Christians†in protest. If they get to try to force their beliefs down the throats of students, then every religious group has the right to do the same. And if conservative “Christians†don’t like it, they should support separation of church and state and obey it. That’s the only solution to satisfy everyone.