Today, many colleges offer children endless extracurricular activities such as sports, languages, and tutoring. For, according to the BBC's Ricardo Senra, in the US, in addition to all these options, since the country's Supreme Court approved the initiative that religious groups offer courses to students in 2001, members of Catholic and evangelical churches began to create focused programs. in evangelizing the kids.

It turns out that it was not just Catholic and evangelical groups that came into this to create courses for children. According to Ricardo, since US law is very clear on the subject, the US Satanist Temple staff has also decided to develop a program - which serves as a counterpoint to Christian courses offered in US public schools.

Childish Satanism

According to Ricardo, the course created by the members of the Satanist Temple was called After School Satan Program - or Satan After School, in free translation - and is presented through a video filled with images of children interspersed with those of horned goats, spiders., dolls and satanic symbols, as well as being packed with slightly sinister sounds and inverted audio. The material is very ... original! Take a look:

According to the information accompanying the video, the Satanic Temple began offering courses last year in schools across the country, and the main goal is to promote critical and independent thinking as well as freedom of thought for children.

There is no information whether any school in the US has allowed courses to be taught, but Satanists believe it is important for children to have the opportunity to understand that the materials to which they are exposed - such as booklets and pamphlets - represent the opinion of only one religion (the Christian, of course) among so many that exist in the world.

(The Satanic Temple of Detroit)

Moreover, as Satanists explain, the evangelization of children teaches them to fear the wrath of God and Hell. However, it would be best if they were encouraged to question and rationalize about what we know about the world and the wonders that exist in it - based on scientific concepts, so that little ones grow up knowing how to appreciate and not fear life. All the schools approached by Satanists already offer (or have offered at some point) the classes created by Christian groups.

Obviously, the initiative to teach children Satanism in the United States did not go well with Christian groups - who did not think twice before calling the sacrilege program and launching numerous actions to prevent "satanic courses." Proponents of the program, on the other hand, argue that evangelizing classes should be canceled, as they are a tool used by religious fanatics to indoctrinate children.

Alternative

The Satanic Temple is a new arm of traditional Satanism and was founded in 2014 by Lucien Greaves, a former student of neuroscience at Harvard University. As we have already explained here in Mega Curioso, the organization aims to encourage empathy and benevolence, as well as to defend justice, common sense, scientific knowledge, human rights, and the separation of religion and state.

Lucien Greaves (New York Daily News / The Washington Post / Getty Images)

According to Ricardo, since its foundation, the Temple has opened offices in 13 US states and has been gaining more and more fans around the world - including here in Brazil. Among them, incidentally, there are several who argue that the children's courses are brought here too.

In the US, the project proposes 1-hour monthly meetings with activities that include science, literature and arts classes, as well as creative learning, and everyone is welcome regardless of their religious choice. Moreover, since followers do not "worship" the Devil - they only regard him as a symbol against authority and tyranny - children are not encouraged to worship the Capiroto. Anyway, what do you think of all this, dear reader?