Legislation signed into law Thursday would permit school districts to allow volunteer chaplains on campus, but DeSantis said Satanists are not welcome to participate.
“Despite DeSantis’ contempt for religious liberty, the Constitution guarantees our equal treatment under the law, & DeSantis is not at liberty to amend the Constitution by fiat, at whim,” said Lucien Greaves, co-founder of The Satanic Temple.
Devon Graham with American Atheists noted the Satanic Temple is recognized as a religious organization by the IRS.
“Which is really all that matters in the US. They are indeed a church and so they can offer up whomever they want as long as they can pass a background check,” said Graham in an interview with Action News Jax in February.
But The Satanic Temple isn’t the only group that may consider dragging the law into litigation ‘hell’.
The ACLU also opposed the measure as it made its way through the legislature.
In an article posted to the ACLU’s website , the organization argues the school chaplain law violates the separation of church and state, and could lead to students receiving inadequate or even harmful counseling.
But DeSantis argued it’s the ACLU that is attacking religious liberty, by advocating for the exclusion of religion from the schools.
“They think you should not have the same access to come to campus that any other student organization or other types of group would have. That it’s an inferior status. The First Amendment was enacted to prevent that,” said DeSantis.
The bill takes effect July 1st.
It will be up to individual districts to decide whether to implement chaplain programs.
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