Satanic Temple wants district to end preaching in schools
Atlanta’s chapter of The Satanic Temple is in the national spotlight with plans to open an After School Satan Club at Still Elementary in west Cobb.
Richard Gilbert
Mr. Richard Gilbert, age 83, of Rome passed away Friday October 21, 2016 at his home.
Funeral arrangements are incomplete and will be announced later by Good Shepherd Funeral Home
Terrance Braynard Herrington
Terrance Braynard Herrington, age 23, of Rome passed away Sunday October 16, 2016.
Funeral services will be held at 1:00 P.M. Tuesday October 25, 2016 at West Rome Baptist Church. Interment will follow in Floyd Memory Gardens. The family will receive friends from 6 until 8 p.m. Monday October 24, 2016 at Good Shepherd Funeral Home, 2750 Shorter Ave. Rome, Ga. 30165.
A complete obituary will follow in the Sunday edition of the Rome News-Tribune.
Parnick Jennings, Sr.’s Good Shepherd Funeral Home has charge of arrangements.
EAST COBB — The Satanic Temple wants the Cobb School District to deny its application to start an after-school club at Still Elementary School, according to the head of its Atlanta chapter.
The group wants the Cobb School District to honor separation of church and state and equal treatment of all religions by removing all religious clubs from the public school system.
“That really is the better application of the law,” said Fred Mephisto of east Cobb, head of the group’s Atlanta chapter. “Our program is literally the second-best option. The best option would be no programs. We would prefer that by a long shot.”
On Aug. 1, The Satanic Temple announced its intention of opening nine After School Satan Clubs at elementary schools across the nation, including a program at Still Elementary in Powder Springs.
Still Elementary was chosen because the school hosts the Good News Club — an after-school Christian evangelical program — Mephisto said.
Marietta resident Crystal Springer, a mother of two Still Elementary students, said the proposed after-school program does not thrill her. She said it is the parents’ job to educate children at home on religion.
“In a way, it’s not really the school’s job to minister to our kids anyway,” she said.
Springer, whose sons are in second and fifth grade, said she does not represent all of the opinions in the Still community.
The community as a whole was surprised with the program’s announcement.
“We had people all over the spectrum. Some were definitely concerned,” she said.
The group submitted its application to start the program at Still on Sept. 16, and Mephisto said he is still waiting on the district’s response.
Springer said she does not know if the Cobb School District will approve The Satanic Temple’s application.
“If it comes, it comes,” she said. “I’m not losing a lot of sleep because our God is bigger than that.”
She said students at Still will continue to thrive at the school even if the after-school program is approved.
“I recognize that we shouldn’t discriminate against any religions,” she said. values, critical thinking and self-determination” principles, according to the temple’s application.
Participating children would receive a membership card and must have a signed parental permission slip.
Mephisto said The Satanic Temple will not release the program’s curriculum until after the program is approved. The after-school program’s proposed curriculum is not meant to destroy people’s religious beliefs, he said.