Parents in a school district in Ohio are celebrating the arrival of Satan this holiday season in the form of the Hellion Academy of Independent Learning (Hail), an alternative to Christian release time programs mandated by school districts, the Guardian reports.
Release time, dating in the U.S. from the early 20th century, carves out a period during the school day for religious instruction and has experienced a revival in recent years.
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While two districts participated in the program in 2019, the number grew to 325 in 12 states in 2023, according to Joel Penton, the CEO and founder of LifeWise, a program that picks kids up from school and delivers them to churches and community centers for instruction.
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But a group of parents in Marysville, Ohio wasn’t happy with the mandated, overwhelmingly Christian instruction, so they sought out an alternative. The Satanic Temple offered up their all-“Hail” solution.
The group calls itself a “non-theistic” church and is recognized by the IRS with a religious exemption. Their self-stated mission is to promote pluralism among religious views, empathy, and the rejection of tyrannical authority.
“We aren’t trying to shut the LifeWise Academy down,” June Everett, an ordained minister with the Temple, told Cleveland.com. “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.”
The Satanic Temple made headlines last week when it unveiled a Mephistophelean holiday display in Minnesota’s Capitol building and another in Concord, New Hampshire, testing the First Amendment guarantee of religious freedom.
Last year at Christmas, the group sponsored a student-launched Satan Club at a high school in Kansas and also famously installed a 7ft-tall bronze Baphomet statue depicting a Satanic winged man with a goat’s head on the steps of the Arkansas Capitol to challenge the installation of a Ten Commandments monument in 2018.
The popularity of LifeWise has coincided with a conservative backlash over “woke” culture, unprecedented book bans, and school boards embroiled in conflict over “parents’ rights.”
At least one school board in Ohio rescinded permission for the program after concerned parents protested. Catholics, as well, have complained that their congregants have been overlooked as LifeWise has made Christian instruction the release time default.
“We believe all families should have the opportunity to choose religious study during school hours,’ said LifeWise founder Penton, “and we trust parents to make the best choice for their children.”
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