After School Satan Clubs have drawn headlines and national attention in recent years, targeting public schools that have already approved Good News Clubs to host meetings during after-school hours.
In a scattering of communities from California to Virginia, parents have protested the Satan clubs, asking their districts to not approve their applications to meet. That’s left school administrators with a difficult decision: accept all clubs no matter the viewpoint or shut down after-school clubs altogether.
The After School Satan Club (ASSC) has not hidden its agenda. Organizers say they’ll only open a club if religious groups are already meeting on a school’s campus.
Its website explains: “ASSC exists to provide a safe and inclusive alternative to the religious clubs that use threats of eternal damnation to convert school children to their belief system.”
In December, the ASSC applied to start a club at B.M. Williams Primary School in Chesapeake, Virginia.
Just a few months earlier, a local church that had a long history of volunteering at the school, had started a Good News Club.
“It really was the next logical step,” Pastor Chris Williams of CenterPoint Community Church told CBN News. “We had this group that was already ministering to these families, already had these relationships.”
Williams said he was unaware of the Satan Club before it applied and wondered how its application would affect their club.
“They’re opposed to our views and they’re trying to counter and even undermine our presence there so I’m concerned in that regard,” he said. “I think the wrong kind of attention could force the school board to say we can’t do any of these clubs.”
Parents packed the Chesapeake public school board meeting on Dec. 12th with the majority expressing concern. One mom told the board, “We can’t be so afraid of being mocked or called names or canceled that we open the door wide open to evil in our community and most importantly to our children.”
The Missouri-based Child Evangelism Fellowship started in 1937 and operates clubs in the U.S. and around the world. It reached more than 15 million children worldwide in 2021 with more than 55,000 club meetings. In the U.S., thousands of clubs meet and share the gospel with children.
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Reprinted with permission from cbn.com. Copyright © 2022 The Christian Broadcasting Network Inc. All rights reserved.
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