(LifeSiteNews) — Two volunteers from the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) Student Action project spoke out last week against the increasingly popular “After School Satan Clubs” popping up at public schools across the country.
The remarks were made during a school board meeting in Chesapeake, Virginia, where one of the Satan clubs was recently permitted to form, sparking backlash from the community.
“The primary and basic end of religion, true religion, links us to God. Satanism is not a religion,” TFP Student Action volunteer Joseph Gensens said at the meeting. “With this in mind, I have to ask: What is the ‘After School Satan Club’s’ true purpose and how does it benefit the educational, cultural, and moral formation of the children at B.M. Williams Primary School?”
“As far as I can tell, at best the Satanic Club exists to go against pre-existing Christian school clubs. At worst, this club really does exist to worship Lucifer and his historic role as the archetypal revolutionary who denies all rules and all authority. Satan is universally regarded through history as a tempter, a liar, a murderer, and a thief. I think it’s safe to say that the second worst case scenario is closer to the true purpose of the club. After all, it’s called Satan Club for a reason.”
Gensens pointed out that one of The Satanic Temple’s (TST) seven tenets is “individual sovereignty,” which “means there is no authority higher than the individual.” Gensens argued that this tenet “will undermine the authority of teachers over their students,” obliterating grades “because who are the teachers to determine which answers on a test are right and which are wrong?”
Similarly, “if parental authority is deemed oppressive,” the Satanic club would teach children to disrespect their parents entirely, Gensens said. He added that “to deny the validity of authority and therefore law is to promote all sin and all crime,” and called for adults to act on their “duty to protect children from evil, not expose it to them.”
Jonathan Marin, another TFP Student Action volunteer, also spoke at the meeting, dressed similarly to Gensens in a suit and tie. As with his fellow volunteer, a few adults sitting behind the podium can be seen shaking their heads and silently mocking the testimony through facial expressions.
“Satanism is evil,” Marin began his comments. “And this particular Satanic group is known for immoral practices like desecrating graves, promoting unnatural vice, claiming abortion is a religious ‘ritual,’ and attacking the true Catholic Mass with sacrilegious black masses.”
Explaining how a black mass may include stealing and destroying a consecrated host from a Catholic church, a woman sitting behind the speaker can be seen excitedly whispering to the man next to her, appearing to mouth the words “we did that.”
“If schools can have zero tolerance policies against drugs and adopt strict no drug zones, it makes sense to adopt no Satan zones that would protect children from grave spiritual harm,” Marin continued. “You have the power to defend God’s little ones or let Satan into the community. You hold your souls in your own hands.”
After imploring the school board to “reject” the club honoring “the father of lies,” Marin asked “she who crushes the head of the serpent, Satan, the eternal loser” to “pray for us” and declared that “we all know God wins in the end.”
TFP Student Action is not the only group combating the Satanic club in Chesapeake. Last month, LifeSiteNews reported that local Catholics are hosting regular Rosary rallies in prayerful protest of the “blasphemy” promoted by the club. America Needs Fatima, another project of the American TFP, is also involved in the Rosary rallies.
TST, which sponsors the “After School Satan Clubs,” is a far-left group that presents itself as a secular organization using Satan’s name as a rejection of “arbitrary authority.” The group actively promotes abortion on demand by claiming the murder of the unborn counts as a “religious ritual” in Satanism and encourages gender confusion through sponsoring LGBT events.
As previously reported by LifeSiteNews, the introduction of “After School Satan Clubs” has been consistently met with public backlash, in some cases leading to school districts rescinding approval for the clubs.
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