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submitted 11 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Community members in a Tennessee school district want to banish Satan from their children’s halls after the formation of a new club was announced.

The After School Satan Club (ASSC) wants to establish a branch in Chimneyrock elementary school in the Memphis-Shelby county schools (MSCS) district.

The ASSC is a federally recognized nonprofit organization and national after-school program with local chapters across the US. The club is associated with the Satanic Temple, though it claims it is secular and “promotes self-directed education by supporting the intellectual and creative interests of students”.

The Satanic Temple makes it clear its members do not actually worship the devil or believe in the existence of Satan or the supernatural. Instead Satan is used as a symbol of free will, humanism and anti-authoritarianism.

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[-] Alteon@lemmy.world 203 points 11 months ago

Me and my wife are both members of TST and we LOVE the work they do. The Tenets they promote are loving, self-respecting, and do justice towards an ideal world of Individualism, anti-authoritarianism, and critical thinking - i.e. everything that Christianity and modern conservatism in general are eager to suppress. We regularly donate to them, and we constantly purchase stuff through their store to help support them.

[-] CherenkovBlue@iusearchlinux.fyi 37 points 11 months ago

Same, also a member of TST and a practicing romantic Satanist. It's brought a lot of strength, clarity, and confidence to my life.

[-] ickplant@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago

That sounds interesting, I know I can try googling but I would love to hear from the source. What is a romantic Satanist?

[-] rmuk@feddit.uk 31 points 11 months ago

lights candles, opens box of wine

Well, you see...

[-] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 16 points 11 months ago

box of wine

A connoisseur I see 🧐

[-] Handrahen@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago

It just comes in a box, they're not going to drink it from the box! I'm sure they'll pour it into a mug first.

[-] Daft_ish@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago

You don't know me

[-] rmuk@feddit.uk 7 points 11 months ago

No, we get a box each and drink it like a Capri-Sun.

[-] Bo7a@lemmy.ca 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Hey now. Some boxed wines have AMAZING taste. Especially in their super-cool naming.

[-] rmuk@feddit.uk 4 points 11 months ago

Oh, yeah, I love wines. Red, white, fizzy white, rosey... all the wines.

[-] CherenkovBlue@iusearchlinux.fyi 10 points 11 months ago

That sounds like the start of ritual to me!

[-] CherenkovBlue@iusearchlinux.fyi 18 points 11 months ago

Check out the book "Compassionate Satanism" by Lilith Starr. You can buy it on TST's website, I am not sure about availability on other platforms.

Romantic Satanism holds up the depiction of Satan from Romantic period literature as an ideal. The book has a nice analysis of Satan's use at that point as a rebel against authoritarianism who fought for Enlightenment. Romantic Satanists are non theistic and do not believe in the supernatural. TST is an organization of Romantic Satanists but you don't have to be a TST member to be one; the seven tenets of TST are a major guiding force as well.

Totally suggest reading the book - it's fascinating and well written.

[-] ickplant@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Thank you, I will check it out!

Edit: it's available on Bookshop.org and on Amazon, too.

[-] shadowSprite@lemmy.world 18 points 11 months ago

Out of curiosity, how does one join the Satanic Temple? I never hear anything about them except when they show up in the news, and the more I hear about them the more I love them.

[-] CherenkovBlue@iusearchlinux.fyi 21 points 11 months ago

Check out their website. You can join there.

[-] shadowSprite@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago

Thank you! Joined!

[-] Laughbone@lemmy.world 16 points 11 months ago

Another member here, are donations tax deductible?

[-] Smite6645@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 11 months ago

Open question to anyone: how much shit do you get being TST members? Do you just keep it on the downlow? I can very much imagine consequences if it got around at work, etc. Any repercussions may be illegal, but a lot of people are "ask questions later, sort it out in court if it gets there" types.

[-] Alteon@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago

My work associates are all extremely liberal so they were actually pretty stoked. A couple others had no idea what it was, but LOVED the concept after it was explained to them.

A good friend of mine who's a Christian Pastor was the only one that was like...shocked. lol. After he chilled out and I got to explain it to him, he was all in favor of it. He's not a big fan of the mainstream evangalism shit that's going on, so TST being a way to fight the encroachment of the alt-right/Supply-side Jesus on our government was a big win for him.

[-] Got_Bent@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago

I want the Samuel Alito's Mom's Abortion Clinic lunchbox, and I want it now! That merch is AMAZING!

this post was submitted on 15 Dec 2023
1344 points (99.1% liked)

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