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cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/14405947

Florida Satanists are volunteering to fill school counselor roles after Gov. Ron DeSantis ® signed a law allowing religious chaplains into public schools amid staffing shortages.

“Nothing in the text of the bill serves to exclude us, and no credible interpretation of the First Amendment could. Should a school district now choose to have chaplains, they should expect Satanists to participate as well,” Lucien Greaves, cofounder and spokesperson for The Satanic Temple, said in a statement to The Hill on Monday.

Back when DeSantis signed the bill in April, he described Satanism as “not a religion” and said its members would not be allowed to participate in the program.

…

The Florida move allowing chaplains to serve as public school counselors comes as more states are aiming to inject Christianity into public school environments, including by mandating that the Bible or Ten Commandments be taught in classrooms.

The Satanic Temple has increasingly leaned into the fight over freedom of religion in public schools, including through the establishment of After School Satan clubs.

The temple, founded in 2014, says its mission is to “encourage benevolence and empathy, [and] reject tyrannical authority.”

  • themeatbridge@lemmy.worldEnglish
    17·
    1 month ago

    TST is selective about how they protest. Remember, the federal courts made an example of the Pastafarians and stripped them of their rights. That’s what DeSantis was threatening when he said that Satanism isn’t a “real” religion.

    • DirigibleProtein@aussie.zoneEnglish
      14·
      1 month ago

      he said that Satanism isn’t a “real” religion

      Which shows the ridiculousness of mainstream religion.

      Joseph Smith said the Book of Mormon was translated into English from writings he found on golden plates in a reformed Egyptian language

      but that’s a ”real“ religion

      The core belief [of Scientology] holds that a human is an immortal, spiritual being (thetan) that is resident in a physical body. The thetan has had innumerable past lives, some of which, preceding the thetan’s arrival on Earth, were lived in extraterrestrial cultures

      And that’s a “real” religion too.

      Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.

      But the “Seven Fundamental Tenets”, despite being closer to “christian values” than any described in the bible, apparently don’t make up a “real” religion.

      Just outlaw all this religious bullshit, make a conscious effort to “be excellent to each other”, and stop inventing stupid reasons to disagree and fight with people.

      • themeatbridge@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        1 month ago

        l missing the point. The separation of “real” and “not real” religions is arbitrary and capricious. The federal government can declare for any reason that the religious rights of any group are invalid, as long as they don’t have a lot of power or money. Scientologists and Mormons have a lot of both, so those are “real” religions. In 2016, Cavanaugh v. Bartelt declared the freedom of religion dead and ushered in a new era of fascism.