A Satanic Temple in Ohio has launched an after school program as an alternative to a Christian-based bible studies program as it claimed, "when they open the door for one religion, they open it for all."
Starting in December 2024, the Hellion Academy of Independent Learning (HAIL), a Satanic Temple program, will offer monthly sessions to Edgewood Elementary students, WOSU reported.
This came in response to Marysville schools offering LifeWise, a Christian religious instruction program allowing students to study the Bible off-campus after school, in September 2023.
"We aren't trying to shut the LifeWise Academy down, but I do think a lot of school districts don't realize when they open the door for one religion, they open it for all of them," June Everett, a Satanic Temple representative, told WOSU.
"We really we are no fan of it. We do believe strongly in religious pluralism and religious freedom. But we would absolutely go away if they stopped doing their program. But until they can, you know, as long as they continue to offer this to the public schools and demand that they be in the public schools, we will be there as well," Everett added.
HAIL serves as a counterbalance to LifeWise, providing families an inclusive alternative. Both programs will operate under Ohio's release time policy for religious instruction.
"We are not devil worshipers. Different Satanists across the United States will give you different answers depending on how they personally believe. But as a whole, we are non-theistic, meaning we don't believe in any supernatural deities, and that includes, you know, God or Satan," Everett told the outlet.
Originally published by Latin Times
