A high school Satanic club proposed by a student is facing scrutiny and growing pushback in the Olathe School District.
An online petition opposing the prospective club has garnered thousands of signatures and at least one out-of-state group says it plans a protest, even though district officials say the club being requested at Olathe Northwest High School has not yet gained official approval.
Olathe Schools spokesperson Erin Schulte confirmed to the Post that a student at Olathe Northwest requested to start a club called “High School Satan Club” and that the application is being weighed.
“In considering the application and recognition of a student group, we must consider the Equal Access Act, which is a federal law,” Schulte wrote in an email to the Post. “This law requires that all public schools cannot discriminate against an applying student-initiated group based on the message (i.e. philosophical, religious, etc.).”
The Post was unable to contact the student who proposed the “Satan Club,” but in comments to the Kansas City Star, the student — who wished to remain anonymous — pointed out that there is a Christian club on campus and that there is a “lack of representation for non-majority religious beliefs” at the school.
Online petition circulates against “Satan Club”
Two Olathe Northwest students have started a petition in response to the rumors that a Satanic club may be in the works at their school.
Wyatt McDonald, a senior, said he and a classmate started the Change.org petition last week after hearing that another classmate had started to initiate a chapter of After School Satan, a program operated by The Satanic Temple, a non-theistic religious organization that espouses a mission to “encourage benevolence and empathy” and to “reject tyrannical authority” among other values.
The petition urges Olathe school and district administrators to halt the club’s formation at Northwest, and it had garnered more than 7,100 signatures as of Wednesday morning.
McDonald said he is a member of Olathe Northwest AWAKE Christian club and found out about the proposed Satanic club from a friend whose parent is a teacher at a different school in the district.
McDonald said he believes community members are worried about the idea of a “Satanic club” at school because, at its core, the club is anti-religious.
“I feel like this is a club that’s almost enabling people to speak out and take advantage of other people’s First Amendment rights,” McDonald said. “It’s a club that’s going to attack Christians and people of other religions and make them feel like they aren’t wanted and they aren’t supposed to believe what they believe.”
After School Satan Clubs have caused stirs in other districts
It’s unclear if the proposed club at Olathe Northwest is aligned with The Satanic Temple’s After School Satan Club program, which promotes “science, critical thinking, creative arts, and good works for the community,” according to The Satanic Temple’s website.
In its After School Satan Club handbook online, the Satanic Temple says its clubs are meant to “provide a safe and inclusive alternative” to religious-based clubs.
“Proselytization is not our goal, and we’re not interested in converting children to Satanism. After School Satan Clubs will focus on free inquiry and rationalism, the scientific basis for which we know what we know about the world around us,” the Satanic Temple says.
After School Satan Clubs proposed in other school districts in Indiana, Tennessee and Texas have caused a stir in recent weeks, garnering opposition, particularly from conservative and Christian groups that find The Satanic Temple’s messages objectionable.
How would the club work?
The Satanic Temple’s After School Satan Club handbook specifies that trained volunteers — not students — would lead club meetings.
The handbook also says that the club never offers lessons or materials on Satanism.
“Satan, to us, is not a supernatural being. Instead, Satan is a literary figure that represents a metaphorical construct of rejecting tyranny over the human mind and spirit,” the Temple writes in its handbook.
Unless the Satanic club is its own independent club entirely, it’s unclear how the proposed “High School Satan Club” would operate at Olathe Northwest, since the Equal Access Act states that visitors “may not direct, conduct, control, or regularly attend activities of student groups.”
Under that law, school employees also cannot participate in religious-oriented student group meetings.
McDonald said he believes the club does have a teacher who agreed to be the sponsor. That teacher has not responded to the Post’s request for comment to validate that claim or discuss the specifics of the group.
An outside group plans to protest the club
Earlier this week, the Texas-based Uvalde Foundation For Kids, a nonprofit formed in the wake of the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, announced its intent to protest the proposed Satan club at Olathe Northwest.
The foundation is a volunteer-led organization dedicated to “ending school violence and enriching student lives,” according to its website.
The foundation says it is planning a protest at Olathe Northwest on Jan. 3.
The group is also planning another protest at a Tennessee school where another Satan club has been proposed.
Natasha Vyhovsky is a contributor to the Post.
