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Capistrano Unified Trustee Lisa Davis speaks out against a South Orange County elementary school's new satanist club addition,”After School Satan Club,” and asked for a “deep dive” into the board’s policy.
Capistrano Unified School District Trustee Lisa Davis pushed back against an elementary school’s new satanist club addition, stating the group appears to “express hate.”
During a Board of Trustees meeting late January, Davis spoke out against the creation of an “After School Satan Club” within the Truman Benedict Elementary School in San Clemente California. Davis questioned the intention behind the creation of the club, stating that the board needs to set “clear standards surrounding policies,” according to the Dana Point Times.
“On that note, there are some areas surrounding that statute that we need to discuss to ponder and navigate as we move forward as a board. We need to ask ourselves as trustees of the students and families in Capistrano Unified School District a few questions. What are our values? What are the values of our community?” Davis questioned.
“We need to set clear standards surrounding policies; we need to understand our policies. All of our policies are based upon values, and our policies should align with our values as a Board of Trustees and our community values. We can have differing opinions, but what we do not want is for us to intentionally come to invoke problems, and questions have to be asked.”
The afterschool program, organized by The Satanic Temple, claims to only exist as an open club if the school is offering “other religious groups” on campus due to their belief in not having religion introduced into public schools, their site states. Notably the Truman Benedict Elementary School had already allowed Christian-affiliated club, run by a local church, to host gatherings on the campus, according to DP Times.
“ASSC exists to provide a safe and inclusive alternative to the religious clubs that use threats of eternal damnation to convert school children to their belief system. Unlike our counterparts, who publicly measure their success in young children's "professions of faith," the After School Satan Club program focuses on science, critical thinking, creative arts, and good works for the community,” the After School Satan Club states.
While the afterschool program quickly received backlash from local residents’, the group had its first meeting scheduled for Feb. 12. Davis, however, called for the district to take a “deep dive” into the board’s policy, noting that the district would have felt differently if there was a KKK or Nazi club added to the school.
“I would like the district to take a deep dive into board policy,” Davis stated. “I will look into a policy directly relating to adding a policy for school clubs, which I’m told that we do not currently have, and this will assist us as we navigate today’s requests and look into our community’s values. I put a lot of value on religious pluralism and believe firmly in the freedom of religion.”
“I would think that the district would not allow the formation of a KKK or Nazi club under a sense of propriety that neither of them reflect our community values. It would not matter in the least if they were offering courses in self-worth, or art, or public speaking. I would think that the board would rightly so reject their applications, out of hand. Honestly, in my view, Nazis and KKK are terrible, but Satanists are the worst, and contrary to everything I believe in and stand for and what the vast majority of our community believes and stands for,” Davis continued.
“The Satanist group is a hate group organized with a specific purpose to mock and demonize Christian beliefs. They could very easily rebrand as an open-minded, scientific, or even an atheist group. Choosing to brand themselves as a satanic group serves for me to express hate.”
It is unclear if the group had garnered any support from signups for their first meeting, which allowed kids between 5 and 12 years old to attend with a permission slip, their site confirmed.