It sounds scary, but here’s why you should support Satan Club meeting at school
If my kids showed me a flyer about a meeting of an After School Satan Club, there’s no way in you-know-where that they would be attending.
That’s my decision as a parent. Other parents may be open to it.
The Saucon Valley School District is in an uproar because the After School Satan Club has been granted permission to use space at the middle school for its gatherings.
It’s understandable that many parents are concerned. But if you believe in the U.S. Constitution, you should support the right of such organizations to use school space.
Superintendent Jaime Vlasaty sent a letter to parents Monday night explaining that the club, which isn’t endorsed by the district, would be using the school because it has a right to.
That decision drove one person to do something very stupid. Late Tuesday afternoon, a threat was phoned in to the school district that cited the club meeting. That prompted the district to cancel classes Wednesday.
If one religious group is allowed to use a school, all of them must be. That’s freedom of religion, one of the rights granted to all Americans by the First Amendment.
Vlasaty noted that in her letter to parents.
“Religious groups are among those the District has allowed to rent our facilities over the years. By law, the District cannot discriminate among groups wishing to use the SVSD facilities,” she wrote.
The Morning Call’s Jenny Roberts reported that a U.S. Supreme Court case governs how school districts must act in these situations.
In 2001, the court ruled that when public schools open their properties for use by outside groups, they cannot decide who gets access based on religious perspectives.
That case involved a lawsuit brought by Good News Club, a Christian organization for children ages 6-12 whose activities include reciting Bible verses, against Milford Central School in New York.
The district prohibited the club from using a cafeteria for after-school meetings because it considered its activities to be religious. The district had a policy of not allowing its properties to be used “for religious purposes.”
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his opinion that when a government creates a limited public forum, it is not required to allow users “to engage in every type of speech.” Citing prior case law, Thomas said a government could be justified in reserving its forum “for certain groups or for the discussion of certain topics.”
He said the ability to restrict speech is limited, though: “The restriction must not discriminate against speech on the basis of viewpoint.”
The district argued that its policy protected the Establishment Clause, which requires separation between church and state. The court rejected that argument.
“When Milford denied the Good News Club access to the school’s limited public forum on the ground that the Club was religious in nature, it discriminated against the Club because of its religious viewpoint in violation of the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment,” Thomas wrote.
In a follow-up letter to Saucon Valley parents on Wednesday, Vlasaty said the district is taking a second look at the After School Satan Club’s use of district facilities.
“In making the decision to follow the facility use policy regarding non district affiliated clubs and organizations, I could not anticipate the substantial disruption it has caused our students and staff through the threat, school closure and cancellation of student activities last evening,” she wrote. “Due to this disruption and threat to the safety and welfare of our students and staff, I will be recommending a full review of the Satan Club’s use of our facility.”
Using the threat as an excuse to cancel the event and quell the controversy would be a major mistake.
That would embolden other crackpots to make threats against any event they disagree with, hoping that would get it canceled.
Schools belong to the taxpayers — all taxpayers.
When the facilities are not being used by students, they should be available to the community. The district should not have a say in which groups use them, as long as the activities they intend to conduct will be safe for participants and not damage the space they are using.
To do otherwise would be un-American.
The focus should be on catching the person who made the threat against the district and prosecuting them.