An eastern Pennsylvania school district has reached a settlement with The Satanic Temple in a lawsuit alleging discrimination against students by barring one of the group's After School Satan clubs from using a school building.

The American Civil Liberties Union said Thursday that the Saucon Valley School District had agreed to pay $200,000 in attorney’s fees and to provide The Satanic Temple and the After School Satan Club it sponsors the same access to school facilities as is provided to other organizations.

The ACLU filed the lawsuit in March after the district rescinded its earlier approval to allow the club to meet following criticism. The After School Satan Club, with the motto “Educatin’ with Satan,” had drawn protests and even a threat in February that prompted closure of district schools for a day and the later arrest of a person in another state.

Saucon Valley school district attorney Mark Fitzgerald told reporters in a statement that the district denies having discriminated against The Satanic Temple, its club or “the approximately four students” who attended its meetings. He said the district’s priorities were education and the safety of students and staff.

  • SuddenlyBlowGreen@lemmy.world
    5·
    11 months ago

    Well, it doesn’t really matter since my definition of religion is not what the laws use.

    So when you say it’s a “pretend religion” you’re basically saying it’s adherents aren’t really religious.

    I say it’s a pretend religion because they’re not trying to manipulate their members for power over them and profit, and/or they’re not trying to get them to believe in the supernatural.

    This is clearly different from the law’s misunderstanding of what a religion is, as pointed out by yourself:

    "Courts actually do care about whether someone truly believes in a religion, because someone’s supposed religious beliefs are often appealed for why someone is a “good person,…”

    If you were filing a lawsuit like the one in the article and you professed it was a “pretend religion” your case would be thrown out,

    Fortunately for the lawsuit, it wouldn’t because the definition of religion the court uses and mine if different.