Summary
The Satanic Temple will launch a religious program, HAIL (Hellion Academy of Independent Learning), at Edgewood Elementary in Marysville, Ohio, offering an alternative to the evangelical LifeWise program.
LifeWise, part of a growing “release time” religious instruction trend, removes students weekly for Christian teachings.
Critics argue it alienates non-Christian students and raises concerns about religious pluralism in schools.
The Satanic Temple’s HAIL program emphasizes empathy, pluralism, and critical thinking in its program, removing students monthly.
These are the tenets of that evil sinful Satanic Temple that Christians hate so much:
I One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.
II The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
III One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.
IV The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one’s own.
V Beliefs should conform to one’s best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one’s beliefs.
VI People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one’s best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.
VII Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.
https://thesatanictemple.com/blogs/the-satanic-temple-tenets/there-are-seven-fundamental-tenets
How utterly evil and immoral and reprehensible, am I right? Glad they’re going to burn forever in a pit of fire.
I can picture little shitlord kids (I love them) joining this just because, reading this in surprise… And loving that they can preach to absolutely anyone with an ear.
The only tenet I take issue with is 4. I used to be a really strong proponent of absolute free speech but after seeing the mess of propaganda and conspiracies that have thrived in the relatively free environment of the internet I’ve taken a more nuanced approach. While I still believe you should have the right to say anything you want and be free from censorship, I think there’s a co-equal right that other people have the right not to be subjected to what you have to say. As with many things I think the key here is consent. While you shouldn’t be outright censored what you say should have content warnings and people should need to opt in before being shown whatever it is.
I am with you there. It’s a difficult dynamic, I have to say, so I’m not quite sure where I fall on it.
I would assume that the origins of this tenet lay in TST’s role as a force of upset for majority Christian communities. Their existence and beliefs offend the very nature of religious conservatism, so it would be hypocritical of them to say that your words and actions should not offend others.
But when the power dynamics are reversed, with things like conspiracy theories and radicalized racism being wielded as weapons by the ruling class and bleeding into government, no one should be told to just deal with it or respect their right to say these incredibly hurtful/dangerous things.
Well, fraud is a kind of speech that crosses the line from offence to injury. That line is the one that needs defining for an ethical scenario.
So, in Canada, hate speech is not about offence but injury, based on historical circumstances and recognition that genocide only occurs with a lot of hate speech floating around. Many right wingers point to this as an outrage, as they don’t see speech as an action unless directed at themselves.
Currently these protections are being abused by zionists and those afraid of antisemitism accusations, so it’s complicated.
With a couple of edits, those tenets can be made to apply to Bible belt principles:
I *Except the queer folk.
II *Except ours.
III One’s body is sacred, subject to our will alone.
IV The freedoms of others in our church should be respected, including the freedom to offend those outside it*.
V Beliefs should not*. One should personally never distort scientific facts*
VI If one makes a mistake, one should repent and sweep it under the rug*
VII Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to not be questioned.
To hell with them!!
99% of conservatards dont know these tenets. They think “devil worshipper” and that’s about all their brains can do.