High School Satan Club launches at Olathe Northwest High School
Courtesy of June Everett and The Satanic Temple
Recently, Olathe Northwest High School has approved an after school Satan club. This controversial decision was made by a student in response to the recent presence of the Awake Ministries Club on campus.
When speaking to June Everett, the campaign director of the After School Satan Club and ordained minister of The Satanic Temple, she says “They cross the line on a lot of things that would be a violation of the Equal Access Act of 1984.” Namely, that a lot of adults from the ministries are involved.
So in response to this, one student reached out to The Satanic Temple about starting an After School Satan Club. For those not in the know, The Satanic Temple is a non-theistic religion. They follow the Satan from John Milton’s Paradise Lost. As Everett says, “it’s a take on Satan that makes him a symbol for standing up to tyrannical authority to questioning everything, to asking the questions when things don’t feel right.”
The club itself is not about becoming some comical depiction of Satan worship you might see in an old cartoon or something. It’s simply meant to provide a space for people of all religious or non-religious beliefs. Of course, you could argue that a different name should be used in that case, but “if we called it the fluffy bunnies and rainbows club and then people find out it’s ran by the Satanic Temple, like, how is that going to look?” Everett says.
The thing she stressed repeatedly during the interview was the importance of doing everything by the book. Whether it be district policy or actual law. Of course, that hasn’t stopped the school themselves from dragging their feet a bit.
Everett mentioned how the founding student was told that they needed to reacquire the original signatures from all 20 to 30 club members in print. Everett says “we kind of pick and choose our battles when it comes to jumping through the minor hoops and then knowing when they’re just straight up being discriminatory, and it’s something that needs to be turned over to, you know, legal counsel.”
These challenges are not new to the After School Satan Club program. They have had a variety of clubs since the program started back in 2020. The situation in Olathe doesn’t actually seem to be the most challenging one yet, or at least not the most stressful. While the teacher sponsoring the club has had to deal with students leaving bibles on her desk, Everett says, “We had a bomb threat since one of our volunteers homes in Virginia where next thing you know, she’s getting kicked out of her house by the bomb squad where they’re bringing in dogs, bomb sniffing dogs.”
Meanwhile, the club’s goal is simply to provide a safe space for students of all beliefs, Everett says, “We’d like people to be able to worship and believe in whatever they like, as long as you know, they’re not hurting anyone or violating any sort of state or federal laws.” This of course hasn’t stopped people from protesting it, simply looking at Facebook shows you a whole array of hateful comments. There is also a change.org article that as of the writing of this article is at just over 9,000 signatures protesting the club.
The club follows all the legal and district rules on getting approved and is protected by the Equal Access Act of 1984. Whether you agree or disagree with the club, so far they haven’t violated any rules. The club is about critical thinking, science, art, and serving the community.
