Satanism is rapidly expanding in the US, and it has gained a hold of the culture, in many aspects. In the music business and in Hollywood, Satanism is all the rage and a lot of mainstream artists don’t even disguise it anymore.
Now, Satanic groups are starting to flex their judicial muscles to defend what they see as their ‘rights’. The main example would be The Satanic Temple — an organization based out of Salem, Massachusetts — who alleges to have 1.5 million members worldwide.
Earlier this month, we learned that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is threatening a school district with a lawsuit on behalf of an ‘After school Satanists club’ and the Satanic Temple.
“An after-school Satanists club in Pennsylvania is threatening to raise hell after local district leaders denied them the ability to convene on their school grounds.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), together with its Pennsylvania chapter, sent a letter to the Saucon Valley school district demanding that they allow the After School Satan Club, or ASSC, access to school facilities in accordance with the US constitution’s first amendment right to practice religion freely.
[…] In the letter addressed to the district, the ACLU said: ‘The district has intentionally opened up its facilities for general community use and, in so doing, may not limit access to this forum based on the content of our clients’ speech, their religious identity, or their viewpoint – even if some may find their beliefs ‘controversial or divisive’. Nor may the district restrict our clients’ access to this forum based on others’ animus toward our clients’ religion, or based on the anticipated or actual reactions to the content or viewpoint of our clients’ speech.'”
While the idea of this ‘club’ has ignited controversy and enraged many parents, it is part of an ongoing trend and hardly unheard of, since even the Naval Academy in Annapolis has had to agree to host a permanent place where ‘Satanic services’ will be held on the campus.
The organization is based in Salem, Massachusetts, place where the infamous Witch Trials took place in the 17th century, the Temple says it “venerates, but does not worship, the allegorical Satan described in the epic poem ‘Paradise Lost’ — the defender of personal sovereignty against the dictates of religious authority.”
It’s all fun and games, of course, until they start going to trial to kill babies. The Satanic Temple is currently suing Indiana and Idaho in federal court over their abortion bans, arguing that members of the Satanic Temple “have the right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy as an exercise of their religious beliefs.”
Yes, you read it right. Killing babies to exercise their beliefs. The pushback against this absurd situation has come from both states.
Axios reports: “A spokesperson for Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita told the Indianapolis Star the U.S. Supreme Court decided abortion isn’t protected under the Constitution. ‘This new lawsuit merely offers weaker arguments for the same discredited right,” the spokesperson said.'”
Idaho Deputy Attorney General Brian Church: “Abortion is not a fundamental right, an equal protection right, or a property right — it is not a constitutional right. Abortion is a moral question within the purview of the Idaho Legislature to research, debate, balance, and regulate. The Satanic Temple’s members’ recourse, if they disagree with Idaho’s policy on abortion, is at the ballot box.”
The Temple is also opposing the Texas abortion ban law, and suing Boston and other cities for the right to give Satanic invocations before city council meetings.
While the Salem group litigates across the country to guarantee with they see as ‘rights’, they are also working to make Satanism even more visible, as they host the biggest Satanic convention ever at the end of April in Boston.
