Satanists plan to send materials to Orange County schools Jeffrey S. SolochekJeffrey S. Solochek, Times Staff Writer Monday, September 15, 2014 3:23pm The Satanic Temple is at it again. The group that once planned a rally to support Florida Gov. Rick Scotts signature permitting school districts to let students offer inspirational messages at school functions is now celebrating the Orange School Boards decision allowing the distribution of religious materials on its campuses. It plans to circulate pamphlets related to the Temple’s tenets, philosophy and practice of Satanism, and about the legal right to practice Satanism in school. “We would never seek to establish a precedent of disseminating our religious materials in public schools because we believe our constitutional values are better served by respecting a strong separation of Church and State, spokesman Lucien Greaves explained. However, if a public school board is going to allow religious pamphlets and full Bibles to be distributed to students — as is the case in Orange County, Florida — we think the responsible thing to do is to ensure that these students are given access to a variety of differing religious opinions, as opposed to standing idly by while one religious voice dominates the discourse and delivers propaganda to youth. The issue came up when a Wisconsin-based group sued Orange County after the district allowed Bibles to be passed out at schools but not atheist materials. The same organization urged the Pasco school district to end football coach-led prayers, shortly after the superintendent told coaches to stop that practice. Orange County schools recently banned chaplains from high school football games, stating that only students could lead prayer at games if they wished.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 23:31:17 +0000
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