IN OHIO, LESSONS FROM SATANIC TEMPLE OFFERED AS BIBLE STUDY ALTERNATIVE

National Review

 

In Ohio, Lessons from Satanic Temple Offered as Bible-Study Alternative

By Alex Welz

December 4, 2024 6:46 PM

 

Ohio students are now eligible to receive lessons from a Satanic Temple as part of the state’s “religious release” program, in which students may be excused from school to attend an off-campus course on religion.

 

As an alternative to the LifeWise Academy’s Bible-study program now available to Ohio students, the Hellion Academy of Independent Learning will offer off-campus classes once a month during the school day for students at Edgewood Elementary School, beginning in December.

 

Leaders of the Satanic Temple insist that the initiative sprung up from the wishes of parents. One mom, Betty Elswick, expressed her desire for a wider range of options.

 

“We wanted to make sure that we had a program that was teaching compassion and empathy and also inclusion,” Elswick said. “Several parents had expressed concerns about their kids coming home and being bullied or made fun of and teased for not participating in the other programs in the area.”

 

“It is not to push a religious agenda. It’s just to have an alternative,” she added.

 

The Satanic Temple attempted to quash concerns over the stigma attached to its name.

 

“We aren’t trying to shut the LifeWise Academy down, but I do think a lot of school districts don’t realize when they open the door for one religion, they open it for all of them,” June Everett, an ordained minister with the Satanic Temple, told WCMH Channel 4.

 

“We are not devil worshipers. Different Satanists across the United States will give you different answers depending on how they personally believe,” Everett said.

 

“But as a whole, we are non-theistic, meaning we don’t believe in any supernatural deities and that includes, you know, God or Satan.”

 

LifeWise CEO Joel Penton chimed in on the new program.

 

“We believe all families should have the opportunity to choose religious study during school hours, and we trust parents to make the best choice for their children.”

 

Penton is promoting an adaptation to the existing state bill that would call on all Ohio school districts to not only allow but require students to leave campus during the day for religious teaching of some kind.