Not to be outdone by Christians, a group of self-described “non-theistic satanists” are offering elementary-age students at a public school in Ohio the chance to participate in a class hosted by The Satanic Temple.
The program, named “Hellion Academy of Independent Learning,” or “HAIL” for short, will be offered to children at Edgewood Elementary School in the Marysville School District, WSYX-TV reported.
Edgewood is not the first school to offer the class as part of its release time religious instruction program. An elementary school in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, is offering the HAIL program, too.
As for the offering in Ohio, program director June Everett told WSYX-TV the focus of the classes will be teaching kids concepts like empathy, compassion, and justice without religious underpinnings.
“When they hear it, it’s initially shocking, ‘Oh, The Satanic Temple,'” she said. “They automatically think evil and awful things. We are not devil worshippers; we are non-theistic satanists.”
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Because students have been granted permission for release from school to participate in Christian programs, a couple parents — according to community organizer Betty Elswick — asked The Satanic Temple to bring the counter program to the Marysville school.
“We wanted to make sure that we had a program that was teaching compassion and empathy and also inclusion,” said Elswick. “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.”
To date, only four students have signed up for the HAIL class. But, according to Everett, the group has learned of interest from students who attend other schools in the district as well as homeschooled children.
As long there is one child to attend and one family that wants to send their child, that is all we care about,” she said. “We are not in this for the numbers.”
As CBN’s Faithwire reported earlier this fall, The Satanic Temple expanded its telehealth abortion clinic program from New Mexico to Virginia. The facilities provide what the group describes as “religious abortion services,” calling the termination of unborn infants part of a “destruction ritual.”
The Virginia-based clinic was opened just before the 2024 presidential election.
In a statement on the development, the group explained, “As abortion rights continue to be a central issue in the upcoming U.S. presidential election, we remain steadfast in our mission to expand access and protect bodily autonomy. We know the urgency of this work, and we will not stop until we have made a lasting difference.”
You can read more about the abortion clinics here.
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