rashore Posted September 30, 2016 #1 Share Posted September 30, 2016 Quote PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) - After wrestling with district leaders for a few weeks, a local satanic group just got the go-ahead to hold an after-school program at Sacramento Elementary School in the Parkrose School District. Organizers say their goal isn’t to encourage devil worship, but to offer children an alternative to a Christian group that also meets there. Heidi-Friesen-Wutzke isn’t a fan of any religion around public schools. But hearing that a satanic group will be meeting at her son’s school is a little extra unsettling. “I don’t know what that group would promote so that’s a little concerning,” said Friesen-Wutzke. “But I know on the other hand, people are concerned about the Christian group that meets here as well.” The group is being organized by Finn Rezz with Satanic Portland, a group that is not about devil worship, but he says, the separation of church and state. “We believe that after school religious programs don’t belong in the school system,” said Rezz. That is exactly why Rezz picked Sacramento Elementary. It’s where the Good News Club meets, an after school program sponsored by the Child Evangelism Fellowship. http://www.kptv.com/story/33264733/satanic-group-cleared-to-host-after-school-program-at-portland-elementary-school Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XenoFish Posted September 30, 2016 #2 Share Posted September 30, 2016 49 minutes ago, rashore said: “We believe that after school religious programs don’t belong in the school system,” They don't at all, Period. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissJatti Posted September 30, 2016 #3 Share Posted September 30, 2016 If they are not admiring Satan, then they are not Satanic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supervike Posted September 30, 2016 #4 Share Posted September 30, 2016 36 minutes ago, XenoFish said: They don't at all, Period. Well, not quite true. The ACLU, which are pretty dang good watchdogs when it comes to this sort of thing says this about it. https://www.aclu.org/other/joint-statement-current-law-religion-public-schools 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
preacherman76 Posted September 30, 2016 #5 Share Posted September 30, 2016 Wonder how many kids parents are gonna send them to that? Id be surprised if even one kid shows up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
preacherman76 Posted September 30, 2016 #6 Share Posted September 30, 2016 2 hours ago, XenoFish said: They don't at all, Period. Why not? Its after school, and voluntary. I don't see the problem at all. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supervike Posted September 30, 2016 #7 Share Posted September 30, 2016 24 minutes ago, preacherman76 said: Wonder how many kids parents are gonna send them to that? Id be surprised if even one kid shows up. I don't think the club, or it's membership, is the point, at all. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes4747 Posted September 30, 2016 #8 Share Posted September 30, 2016 And the public makes the only no casualty response-welcome with open arms. Now they keep their good news club and count on no membership to the Satan asp. Well played Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
preacherman76 Posted September 30, 2016 #9 Share Posted September 30, 2016 2 hours ago, supervike said: I don't think the club, or it's membership, is the point, at all. What is the point, as you see it sv? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XenoFish Posted September 30, 2016 #10 Share Posted September 30, 2016 38 minutes ago, preacherman76 said: What is the point, as you see it sv? A gateway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supervike Posted September 30, 2016 #11 Share Posted September 30, 2016 57 minutes ago, preacherman76 said: What is the point, as you see it sv? I think their point is to show the ridiculousness (in their eyes) of the 'christian club'. They are trying to be as ludicrous as possible (thus using Satan, when they very well have no intention of worshiping the Devil). Possibly, they thought they could shut down the religious club, since they never thought the Satan club would be accepted. More likely, they know they can at least force scrutiny on it. And, I think it's kinda backfired on them, because to avoid any sort of litigation, they are allowed to have the club. Having a real Satan club with members will most likely never happen, since all they wanted was the attention on the Religious groups. Of course, I could be way off base. Heck, maybe there is a Satanic group that wants to teach kids. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skliss Posted October 2, 2016 #12 Share Posted October 2, 2016 On 9/30/2016 at 5:40 PM, XenoFish said: A gateway. To what? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DieChecker Posted October 2, 2016 #13 Share Posted October 2, 2016 This is so totally Portland. As a person who lives here, this satanic club, and the anti-religion people, are completely and totally what Portland wants to be all about. Much of the population has embraced the slogan, "Keep Portland Weird". The vocal masses try to be counter culture to the point where they are the stereotype for tolerance, while being totally intolerant . The whole thing is about the students wanting to promote tolerance of separation of church and state, while being intolerant of anything that smells of religion in government. (Which since government includes humans, it will include religion.) AND... the school, who want to promote tolerance, but are thinking they need to be intolerant of the religious kids, and the atheist kids, in order to do so.... (Sigh....) This is the town were living a "zombie" lifestyle, or a "pirate" lifestyle, is admired. As a Oregonian, I'd say there should be no harm in allowing anyone to use the school for anything. It is a public owned building, so as long as they use it according to the rules, they should be able to use it. I've known many small church groups that use rooms in public schools on Sundays. As to whether there should be a satanic club, I'd say that depends on their club charter, which in this case seems to be innocent enough as they simply want to promote separation between church and state. If the school principal comes to work and there is dead chicken parts/blood scattered around and a robe made of goat fur including horns, then perhaps he should start asking more questions. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.United_Nations Posted October 6, 2016 #14 Share Posted October 6, 2016 On Sunday, October 02, 2016 at 2:32 PM, skliss said: To what? To stargate? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keel M. Posted October 6, 2016 #15 Share Posted October 6, 2016 (edited) So if the group isn't about devil worship and merely the separation of church and state, I believe the Satanic part is just to get a rise out of Christians. If all they want to do is provide an alternative to the Christian group that meets after school, fine. I'm quite sure parents who are afraid of alternative activities can visit for a session and see exactly what they're doing. Edited October 6, 2016 by Child of Bast 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+and-then Posted October 6, 2016 #16 Share Posted October 6, 2016 1 hour ago, Child of Bast said: So if the group isn't about devil worship and merely the separation of church and state, I believe the Satanic part is just to get a rise out of Christians. If all they want to do is provide an alternative to the Christian group that meets after school, fine. I'm quite sure parents who are afraid of alternative activities can visit for a session and see exactly what they're doing. If parents are taking their children to church then they can use this club as a teaching moment for them. I agree that this club seems to just be designed to anger Christians and people who are followers of Christ will likely just feel sorry for the kids who attend. I'd be interested to see a followup on how many kids attend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlitterRose Posted October 6, 2016 #17 Share Posted October 6, 2016 (edited) I've really looked into this situation, because these are popping up all over the place. It seems that what they're really about is countering a very scary fundamentalist group called the Good News Club. This club is very sin-heavy in its message, and literally does things like make kids wear a big sign that says "sinner" or giving them a "gift" that they have "earned" by sinning...and it's a card that has the word death written on it. It's from the CEF (Child Evangelical Fellowship curriculum) which the Good News Club lies about and claims not to be using. When they are confronted and observed, though, it turns out they are using it...and lying to the school districts. The main point of their program is to proselytize their very extreme version of fundamentalist Christianity to all the children at all the public schools across the country. They actually train the kids to convert others (telling them that they could suffer punishment for not doing so), and they do this in the actual classrooms where kids go to regular classes during the day. So it's getting the cover and legitimacy of the public school setting. The After School Satan program and the Better News Club (Young Skeptics) are trying to counter this blatant attempt at bringing an extreme version of Christianity that is abusive to children into the public schools. The Satanic Temple knows that people are offended by slapping Satan on anything, so they're hoping their presence will shut down all religious programs at public schools. It's sad that all of the religious programs would have to go. Some of them...like the YMCA programs are not even religious at all. They're just after school sports programs or academic programs that have the label "Christian." There are also many good programs that are not promoting a damaging curriculum. I disagree that all of them should have to go, but I can see why people would want to keep out the Good News Club. It's kind of an all or nothing issue, and if keeping all of them out stops this horrible program, then I guess that's what is needed. Edited October 6, 2016 by ChaosRose 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supervike Posted October 6, 2016 #18 Share Posted October 6, 2016 2 hours ago, Child of Bast said: So if the group isn't about devil worship and merely the separation of church and state, I believe the Satanic part is just to get a rise out of Christians. If all they want to do is provide an alternative to the Christian group that meets after school, fine. I'm quite sure parents who are afraid of alternative activities can visit for a session and see exactly what they're doing. Not just to get a rise out of Christians, but the shock value of it, gets ALL people paying attention. If they didn't do that, I'll almost guarantee this wouldn't be a thread here. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keel M. Posted October 6, 2016 #19 Share Posted October 6, 2016 True, supervike. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skulduggery Posted October 6, 2016 #20 Share Posted October 6, 2016 Nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Varelse Posted October 6, 2016 #21 Share Posted October 6, 2016 It's kind of funny but I have a feeling after the novelty wears off the only kids showing up will be children of the adults' behind this. After visiting and working with some people from portlandia I can almost picture the characters involved and no one really getting too worked up. In the end, it's Don Quixotic but in 2017 you might get an audience of millions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DieChecker Posted October 7, 2016 #22 Share Posted October 7, 2016 If I was a parent of a student at the school, I'd find out how many kids were in this club. Then swamp it with Christian kids from a half dozen youth groups. Then see how the discussions of what should be included as being separation of Church and State, progresses from there. Doubtless the founding students would have a fit, and then close down the club. Win = Christians. If you want to beat people who are trying to force you to do something, you join them and then change what they are trying to change. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torchwood Posted October 7, 2016 #23 Share Posted October 7, 2016 Good news indeed, I have always supported equal rites.... I'm a bit surprised by the way that so many are against the separation of state and religion: isn't the idea of a a secular society built into your constitution? Gods are all well and good but they tend to be absolutely useless at knowing how to run a country- for evidence please see most of the middle east now, and basically the entire planet up until a couple of centuries ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorvir Posted October 7, 2016 #24 Share Posted October 7, 2016 As long as it's harmless I wouldn't have too much of a problem with it, but that applies to anything. Seriously, though, satanism isn't a nice or wholesome thing. Why would anyone want to be part of it? Other than to be rebellious, to gain attention, or if you're mentally unstable, that is. This smells like some PC idiots over-exercising their rights just to "stick it to the man". 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlitterRose Posted October 7, 2016 #25 Share Posted October 7, 2016 (edited) 55 minutes ago, Thorvir Hrothgaard said: As long as it's harmless I wouldn't have too much of a problem with it, but that applies to anything. Seriously, though, satanism isn't a nice or wholesome thing. Why would anyone want to be part of it? Other than to be rebellious, to gain attention, or if you're mentally unstable, that is. This smells like some PC idiots over-exercising their rights just to "stick it to the man". There are different types. Some of them just have a different idea about who the "good guy" was in Genesis. Or they might not take it literally, but still relate to the story in which God denies knowledge and the serpent is the purveyor of it. Then there are the LaVeyan ones who really just love Ayn Rand and Nietzsche so much they made a religion out of it. Lol. On the extreme end, you've got the ones who literally believe in fascism because they think the masses are too stupid for democracy to work. And then there's the total wacko Order of Nine Angles who literally condone things like human sacrifice and terrorism. I s*** you not. I forgot to mention Joy of Satan who think Jews are the root of all evil...or something like that. The Satanic Temple is actually a pretty mild version. They basically see critical thinking and individual freedom as "Satanic" concepts. They're usually out there along with other atheist groups keeping folks who try to force religion on others in check. Naturally, they're more shocking than the Young Skeptics group, and they draw more attention to the issues. When the Good News Club tried to hand out bibles to everyone at a public school, they were there threatening to hand out "Satanic coloring books." Yep...that went over well. Bam! Faster than you can say Beelzebub, the school board nixed the idea of handing out religious materials to everyone at the school. Which no one should have tried to do to begin with. Edited October 7, 2016 by ChaosRose 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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