This Memphis elementary school is poised to hold first 'After School Satan Club' in TN

Chimneyrock Elementary, part of Memphis-Shelby County Schools, has multiple afterschool clubs and extracurricular activities for its students. Listed on its website are strings, beta club, Girl Scouts and piano lessons.

But early next year, an entirely different kind of club meeting is slated to be held at the Cordova-based elementary school. On Jan. 10, students will have the opportunity to attend an “After School Satan Club.”

The event is not endorsed or sponsored by MSCS, but rather, by The Reason Alliance and The Satanic Temple, a Salem, Massachusetts-based nonprofit that has rented out Chimney Rock’s library for the meeting. A flyer, posted on The Satanic Temple’s Facebook page, reads “Hey Kids! Let’s have fun at the After-School Satan club.” Held from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., the event is expected to offer science projects, community service projects, puzzles and games, natural activities, arts and crafts, and snacks.

The top of the flyer also boasts the caption “After School Satan Club is coming to Tennessee,” right next to a cartoon image of a red, horned, devil with a mustache, goatee, and big grin on his face. But while the flyer touts a stereotypical devil, it maintains that the organization views the devil as a “literary figure who represents a metaphorical construct of rejecting tyranny and championing the human mind and spirit.”

The “After School Satan Clubs,” the flyer claims, emphasize a “scientific, rationalist, non-superstitious worldview,” and offer activities centered around The Satanic Temple’s seven tenets, which can be found on its website. The website also asserts that The Satanic Temple is the “primary religious satanic organization in the world,” and that its mission is to “encourage benevolence and empathy, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense, oppose injustice, and Undertake noble pursuits.”

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It's possible more “After School Satan Club” meetings could be held, as the flyer includes the phrase “Spring Semester Dates TBD.” The Satanic Temple’s post sharing the flyer said it’s the first “After School Satan Club in Tennessee,” and the organization has held meetings throughout the nation.

In 2016, The Washington Post ran a story with the headline, “An After School Satan Club could be coming to your kid’s elementary school,” which detailed the plans for the clubs to be brought to elementary schools nationwide. And last year, USA Today confirmed that the club would be held at Jane Addams Elementary School in Moline, Illinois.

After finding out about the club meeting being held at Chimneyrock, The Commercial Appeal reached out to MSCS; and a spokesperson for the district provided a statement it had sent out to families.

The statement said MSCS doesn’t endorse the club meetings or sponsor them ― but that it was expected to rent out the space, per its policy.

“As a public school district, we're committed to upholding the principles of the First Amendment, which guarantees equal access to all non-profit organizations seeking to use our facilities after school hours,” the statement said. “This means we cannot approve or deny an organization’s request based solely on its viewpoints or beliefs. Board Policy 7002 outlines this commitment, allowing community groups and government entities to rent school property outside of school hours.”

Another school district has faced repercussions for denying The Satanic Temple the opportunity to rent out its space, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented it in a case. Last month, the organization reached a settlement with the Saucon Valley School District after alleging that district officials improperly blocked the After School Satan Club from meeting in school facilities. In the settlement, the district was required to give the organization the same access it would provide to comparable organizations, and pay $200,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs to The Satanic Temple’s attorneys.

MSCS interim Superintendent Toni Williams, who identified herself as "a woman of faith," said the district was required to comply with the law, no matter what they thought of the club itself.

"Like many of you, I have strong beliefs that resonate deeply with the questions and concerns surrounding an upcoming club rental. I want to assure you that I do not endorse, I do not support the beliefs of this organization, at the enter of the recent headlines. I do however support the law," she said Wednesday.

She also said there have been calls for the district not to accommodate any faith-based group in order to legally deny the "After School Satan Club" from meeting in MSCS facilities. Williams said she thought that is was the group ultimately wanted.

"As a superintendent, I am duty-bound to uphold our board policy, state laws, and the constitution. But let’s not be fooled. Let’s not be fooled by what we’ve seen in the past 24 hours, which is an agenda, initiated to make sure that we cancel all faith-based organizations that partner with our district because the law says that what we do one organization we must do for all," Williams said. "We have a dedicated group of strong faith-based leaders who support Memphis-Shelby County Schools and continue to invest their time in our schools, our students and our community."

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: 'After School Satan Club' to be held at Chimney Rock Elementary in Memphis