Florida Satanists are volunteering to fill school counselor positions after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a law allowing religious chaplains into public schools amid staffing shortages.
“Nothing in the text of the bill serves to exclude us, and no credible interpretation of the First Amendment could do so. If a school district decides now to have chaplains, they should expect Satanists to participate as well,” Lucien Greaves, co-founder and spokesperson for The Satanic Temple, said in a statement to The Hill on Monday.
At the time DeSantis signed the bill in Aprilhe described Satanism as “not a religion” and said its members would not be allowed to participate in the program.
But Greaves said the governor “outright lied to the public” about the situation.
“Either totally ignorant of the most basic foundations of constitutional law, or too incompetent to care, DeSantis fails to recognize that it is not the government’s place to confer unique rights on one religious identity while denying them to another,” he said.
Reached for comment, the governor’s office pointed to his April comments.
“We are not playing these games in Florida. This is not a religion. This is not a qualification to be able to participate in [the chaplain program.] We’ll use common sense…you don’t have to worry about it,” DeSantis said at the time.
Florida’s move allowing chaplains to serve as counselors in public schools comes as more states look to inject Christianity into public school environments, including mandating that the Bible or the Ten Commandments be taught in classrooms.
The Satanic Temple has increasingly leaned into the fight for religious freedom in public schools, including through the establishment of after-school Satanic clubs.
The temple, founded in 2014, states that its mission is “to encourage benevolence and empathy, [and] reject tyrannical authority.”
Updated at 2:33 pm EDT
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