This semester, the Knox County Public Schools in Tennessee is conducting a pilot program in which parents can allow their kids to leave school an hour early, one day a month, in order to attend religious classes with The Church at Sterchi Hill (about two miles away). The program is sponsored by the church and the school district has nothing to do with it, per se, except to say they won’t punish the kids for leaving early if they’re part of the program.
The kids will also get credit for attending school even though they’re at Bible study — so the choice for parents really boils down to whether they want their kids taking music or art class, or language arts, or learning about the Bible.
Right now, 70 students are participating in the Bible study.
(A similar program has been in existence in other parts of the country for decades. I’m not a fan.)
But if this Christian program is allowed to exist, wouldn’t that open the door for non-Christian groups to take advantage of the situation?
That’s what the newly formed Satanic Children’s Ministry of Knoxville intends to find out.
According to a Facebook post this week, the (independent) group says it just wants to make its case to the school board.
We’ve been struggling to find the best way to kick off our Children’s Ministry. We knew the key would be getting inside our local public schools but there was no way presenting our Satanic Release Program to the Knox Country School Board that we’d get approved on our own. We’ve been waiting patiently for another program to be introduced because once Knox County allows one religious organization to come into the schools with a release program, they have to let us all in!
We are so proud to announce that pending the school board vote in November approving The Church at Sterchi Hill’s Bible Release Time program, Satanic Children’s Ministry of Knoxville will be coming to your local elementary with our Satanic Release Program! For one hour once a month, your children can be released from their school to come learn about Baphomet!
Let your children come check out our program! We have so many activities planned to help them learn the tenets of Satanism. We’ll even send your children back to school with candy, prizes, and educational materials so they can share our program with their classmates!
We can’t wait!
Are they trolling? Who cares. If they meet the criteria, what’s the school board going to do about it?
The good thing is that local news has picked up the story and the school board is now being asked questions about whether Satanic release time is a real possibility.
Socrates the Cat
Article URL : https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2019/11/03/if-knoxville-kids-skip-class-for-bible-study-satanists-want-in-on-the-action/