via the Satanictemple.com
Remember early last year when a group of Satan worshippers who said they were part of an organization called the Satanic Temple, announced their support for Gov. Rick Scott because he supported a bill that would have made prayer legal at school assemblies? They even showed up in Tallahassee for a rally of sorts, in support of Scott because the bill would have forced schools to allow prayers of all faiths – including the Satanic faith – to be delivered in schools.
"Satanists are happy to show their support of Rick Scott who – particularly with SB 98 – has reaffirmed our American freedom to practice our faith openly, allowing our satanic children the freedom to pray in school," the Satanic Temple announced in a press release last January. The rally turned out to be a publicity stunt for a mockumentary movie about "the nicest Satanic cult in the world."
We haven't heard much from the Satanic Temple lately, but today the group announced plans to start distributing literature in Orange County public schools, in response to the school board's recent decision to allow Evangelical groups to distribute Bibles on school grounds.
“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," Satanic Temple leader Lucien Greaves was quoted as saying on the Satanic Temple's website today. "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.”
Earlier this month, the Orange County School Board allowed an atheist group to begin distributing literature on school grounds on days when Christian groups handed out Bibles. But that decision only came after the atheist organization, the Central Florida Free Thought Community, took the school board to court. The case was thrown out by a judge earlier this month, but not before the school district relented and said the atheist literature was permitted in schools.
