Satanic Temple introducing Satanic pamphlets to schools which allow religious material

[TobaccoFlower]

This made me chuckle a bit. 

 

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/blog/2014/09/15/bible-pushing-christians-open-the-door-for-satanic-activity-books-in-florida-schools/comments/#disqus

[Solanaceae]

:roflhard:  lol, this made me chuckle a lot!

[Wexler]

Hah! I like it.

 

The link you posted didn't work for me, but this one did

 

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/09/bible-pushing-christians-open-the-door-for-satanic-activity-books-in-florida-schools/

[Aurantia]

The activity book is downloadable from here and it's pretty adorable. :) (I always wanted a dog named Cerberus and there's one in there. Also, the Necronomicon.)

[Orin]

"Help Damian use inclusive language to defuse the situation" Lol ;) Pretty amusing!

 

Feels overly dramatic though.

[TobaccoFlower]

The activity book is downloadable from here and it's pretty adorable. :smile: (I always wanted a dog named Cerberus and there's one in there. Also, the Necronomicon.)

 

 

Damn, the activity book link didn't work. Mind trying again? I'm super interested in having that book to add to my bathroom reading collection  :rofl:

[Aurantia]

Damn, the activity book link didn't work. Mind trying again? I'm super interested in having that book to add to my bathroom reading collection  :rofl:

 

Here's a direct link to the pdf file instead.

http://www.protectchildrenproject.com/files/Activity_Book.pdf

If you're using Chrome, I've noticed that lately it's been choking on pdfs, and I find that right-clicking, save link as... works better. 

[Alex1]

Lol, They (The Satanic Temple) would hate it if some kid were praying on his knees to Jesus in a school, but this pamphlet is almost exclusively taking place in the classroom.

[Guest monsnoleedra]

Two things come to mind for me.

 

What will the end result be regarding Satanism.  Look what happened to Wicca once it got picked up by the mainstream and started getting modified to make it fit what ever the person wanted.  Especially given some of the inner turmoil that has plagued the various Satanic Church's and groups in the fairly recent past.

 

The second aspect is what is going to happen when one of those Muslim groups that promote the suicide route to heaven and riches wants to start giving hand outs and such in the school systems?

[Solanaceae]

Two things come to mind for me.

 

What will the end result be regarding Satanism.  Look what happened to Wicca once it got picked up by the mainstream and started getting modified to make it fit what ever the person wanted.  Especially given some of the inner turmoil that has plagued the various Satanic Church's and groups in the fairly recent past.

 

The second aspect is what is going to happen when one of those Muslim groups that promote the suicide route to heaven and riches wants to start giving hand outs and such in the school systems?

 

 

Good point, and funny as this may be to us right now the reality is that this opens the door to all the other religions as well. Kind of scary.  That is sort of the point the The Satanic Temple is trying to make I gather.

 

The spokesman for the Satanic Temple, Lucien Greaves, explained that his organization “would never seek to establish a precedent of disseminating our religious materials in public schools because we believe our constitutional values are better served by respecting a strong separation of Church and State.”

“However,” he continued, “if a public school board is going to allow religious pamphlets and full Bibles to be distributed to students — as is the case in Orange County, Florida — we think the responsible thing to do is to ensure that these students are given access to a variety of differing religious opinions, as opposed to standing idly by while one religious voice dominates the discourse and delivers propaganda to youth.”

[TobaccoFlower]

I agree - I think this serves more as a not-so-hidden political stunt to prove a point:m church of any kind + school = no bueno. But if Christians can play on schoolgrounds.... Satanists should be able to, too. And any religion, no matter what it is

[Capsicum]

Here is the thing. 

 

In the United States, a government organization such as a public school cannot favor one religion over another--this is the concept of being secular.  You see it in the form of the FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) and some schools actively asking students to remove clothes or jewelry that have pentagrams on them but not saying anything about crosses.  It's highly illegal and any parent could easily win a lawsuit over it (unfortunately further alienating the student in the process though)

 

However, one of the most important parts of our country is the first sentence of the First Amendment in the Constitution which enumerates our rights:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

 

A public school cannot actively propel any religion, nor favor one over another

BUT

It cannot prohibit the free exercise of religion, as in, they cannot disallow students from practicing or sharing religion within the school.

 

which seems to be the aim of the Satanists using this as a political tool.  They are within their rights but I suspect they are missing the point.

 

"Separation of church and state" is misinterpreted in this way.

 

It's pretty simple, I don't see why people get so confused about it.

 

That being said, if we're going to talk pseudo-politics on this forum, maybe we can have a discussion on how Giles Corey and others like him are important to our ability to freely practice our paths in the U.S.?

[Hecolyte]

I agree - I think this serves more as a not-so-hidden political stunt to prove a point:m church of any kind + school = no bueno. But if Christians can play on schoolgrounds.... Satanists should be able to, too. And any religion, no matter what it is

I agree with you ... I think we only thing we have to fear about any other groups coming out of the wood works is that children are impressionable and may start thinking that stoning gays to death is the right thing to do, or something crazy like that. But, maybe all the exposure to stupidity would have a different affect... Maybe all of this material being distributed may make kids use their thinking caps more, and start asking questions :-). That would be a bonus...

 

Anyways, I got a good chuckle out of it, so thanks for sharing!

[TobaccoFlower]

I think critical thinking skills are important for this reason too, particularly when teaching children. There's a lot of stupid and evil in the world :(

[Capsicum]

Public schools in the US tend to not teach much critical thinking as it is...it's all about obeying the teachers and memorizing information.  It's unfortunate that most private schools are religion or military centric.

[Izzie]

Love the activity book! I understand why the Satanic Temple did this, but I have the same question as Monsno...how is this going to affect Satanism?

[TobaccoFlower]

Well, they're definitely getting more publicity... public attention and how it affects groups of people have certain trends, good and bad. I think it will indeed go the same way as Wicca or Scientology

[Aurelian]

TBH these groups are mostly atheists and do things like this as activism.  I think they'll be ok!

[Belwenda]

Very cute; I may print it and keep it for small visitors to my home :twisted_witch:

[Solanaceae]

Very cute; I may print it and keep it for small visitors to my home :twisted_witch:

 

 

lol, I showed the activity book to my kids and they love it! I will print them out a copy!

 

 

TBH these groups are mostly atheists and do things like this as activism.  I think they'll be ok!

 

Agreed,  this is not the first time they have done this sort of thing and I am sure it will not be the last.

[Capsicum]

Yeah weren't they trying to put up a Baphomet statue at a courthouse in Oklahoma or something?  Haha

[Guest monsnoleedra]

Yeah weren't they trying to put up a Baphomet statue at a courthouse in Oklahoma or something?  Haha

 

 

Different group from what I recall

[Aurantia]

Different group from what I recall

No, same group. They posted an update on their site about it. Their stance on the statue is the same as with the activity book - "We're doing this because you're doing that, so if you stop doing that, we'll stop doing this."  I really hope they do get it done. Though their methods can be outrageous, I support their initiatives. Also, I want to sit on Baphomet's lap and have my photo taken.

[Guest monsnoleedra]

No, same group. They posted an update on their site about it. Their stance on the statue is the same as with the activity book - "We're doing this because you're doing that, so if you stop doing that, we'll stop doing this."  I really hope they do get it done. Though their methods can be outrageous, I support their initiatives. Also, I want to sit on Baphomet's lap and have my photo taken.

 

 

Ok then it has to be the group demanding the right to hold a satanic mass at one of the government building that is the different group then.  Been loosely following it as it was being discussed on another site I am a member of

[Aurantia]

Ok then it has to be the group demanding the right to hold a satanic mass at one of the government building that is the different group then.  Been loosely following it as it was being discussed on another site I am a member of

 

Ah, yes. The Dakhma of Angra Mainyu's Black Mass at the Oklahoma City Civic Center. It's supposed to be held tomorrow, and it's sold out. Everyone keeps using the photo of the Baphomet statue in the articles about this.

 

http://abcnews.go.com/US/satanists-hold-controversial-black-mass-oklahoma/story?id=25174510

 

The Archdiocese had filed a lawsuit on grounds that the consecrated wafers had to have been stolen, because all blessed wafers belong to the Catholic Church, according to Canon Law. They even got a temporary order against the wafers being used. Adam Daniels ended up surrendering the wafers and the suit was dropped. "All your wafers are belong to us."