A school district in Washington has been advised to allow an after-school Satan club to proceed rather than face costly litigation – but that's bad advice, according to a family advocacy group.
Attorney Duncan Fobes told Centennial Elementary School officials last month that a 2001 Supreme Court decision states that if schools allow any organization, such as the Good News Bible Club, to use school property, they must allow all organizations to have access – including the Satanic Temple of Seattle.
But according to Zach Freeman of the Family Policy Institute of Washington, it's not that clear cut.
"While the Satanist club is trying to claim First Amendment, religious freedom and all that stuff, the courts have never determined the Church of Satan to be an actual religion," says the Institute's communications director. "So [given that reality], the same protections are not given to that entity ....."
Freeman's group includes the Satanic Temple among what courts have described as "parody religions" that lack sincerely held religious beliefs and are used to advance political agendas – and aren't entitled to religious protections under the First Amendment.
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