The ConWeb regularly gets trolled by the Satanic Temple into freaking out out over the group’s activities, and WorldNetDaily’s Bob Unruh took the bait again in a Dec. 5 article:
Satanists are aiming to influence school children with their lessons of “empathy” and “justice” and more at an Ohio district where they are beginning to take part in a program in which students are released from classes for short times for instruction from their own church programs.
A report from WSYX explained the Satanists, part of the Satanic Temple, are using a new state procedure to begin “Hellions Academy of Independent Learning” for students at Marysville School District.
“When they hear it, it’s initially shocking, oh the Satanic Temple,” explained June Everett, a program promoter. She cited the lessons to teach empathy and justice “in a fun environment without religious pressure,” the report said.
The report explained, “HAIL was created as an alternative to Christian Release Time Religious Instruction programs (RTRI). Marysville is already involved with LifeWise Academy. Students within the district have been able to participate in the off-campus classes since September 2023.”
Community organizer Betty Elswick explained in the report she sought out the Satanic Temple to begin its work.
“We wanted to make sure that we had a program that was teaching compassion and empathy and also inclusion. Several parents had expressed concerns about their kids coming home and being bullied or made fun of and teased for not participating in the other programs in the area,” she said.
Unruh didn’t explain how empathy and justice are satanic concepts — perhaps because he knows it isn’t. But Unruh was sufficiently triggered that he noted “The Satanic Temple also is actively involved to promoting abortion businesses as “religious abortion services” — though he offered no evidence that abortion is even being discussed in the HAIL club.
Unruh also linked to a 2022 article in which he wrote that “Students at an elementary school in Illinois have gotten invitations to an after-school ‘Satan Club’ that is holding events on five different days throughout the spring term.” Again, he identified nothing offensive that the club was actually doing; instead, he seemed more perturbed that the club is adhering the same rules that school Christian clubs must abide by — and, thus, can’t be legitimately criticized.