Activist Mommy – November 5, 2019
A Satanic “children’s ministry” claims to be hoping to take advantage of a pilot program allowing them to “proselytize” children during school hours after a Knox County, Tennessee elementary school granted a local church the same right.
According to WVLT 8, a little-utilized law allows students to be released from school for one hour in order to attend a “course in religious moral instruction authorized by a local school district.”
Knox County Superintendent Bob Thomas approved the pilot program at Sterchi Elementary after the Elgin Foundation and The Church at Sterchi Hills first approached the school.
In a Facebook post drawing attention to the issue, Sterchi Hills member Clark Stepp explained not only the legality of release programs, but the calling for each Christian to participate or create one at their school:
“These release time programs are legal and completely OPTIONAL,” Stepp wrote. “A lie accepted by many Christians that has been misunderstood and misused for far too long is ‘separation of church and state.’ This simply means the state cannot mandate one religion for all to follow. This doesn’t mean we can’t practice or allow our children to practice their faith in the public realm.”
Upon hearing the news of the pilot program, however, a group calling itself “The Satanic Children’s Ministry of Knoxville” felt they had cause to rejoice.