Florida Satanists are volunteering to fill school counselor roles after Gov. Ron DeSantis ® 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. Should a school district now choose to have chaplains, they should expect Satanists to participate as well,” Lucien Greaves, cofounder and spokesperson for The Satanic Temple, said in a statement to The Hill on Monday.

Back when DeSantis signed the bill in April, he described Satanism as “not a religion” and said its members would not be allowed to participate in the program.

The Florida move allowing chaplains to serve as public school counselors comes as more states are aiming to inject Christianity into public school environments, including by mandating that the Bible or Ten Commandments be taught in classrooms.

The Satanic Temple has increasingly leaned into the fight over freedom of religion in public schools, including through the establishment of After School Satan clubs.

The temple, founded in 2014, says its mission is to “encourage benevolence and empathy, [and] reject tyrannical authority.”

  • Flax
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    1 month ago

    I think you just showed your lack of knowledge? The King James translation of the Bible is literally just a translation of the original Greek and Hebrew. That’s like claiming that Egyptian hieroglyphics were written in the past 100 years because that was when we were able to translate some of them into English 🤦

    • lorgo_numputz@beehaw.org
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      30 days ago

      It was literally altered to enhance the claim of the divine right of kings, among other changes.

      “A popular Puritan bible had downplayed the divine right of kings — greatly offending James — and James manipulated different Christian sects until they agreed to produce a different translation.”

      https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/origins-of-the-king-james-bible-180956949/

      This is your religion, I shouldn’t have to be telling you this. It’s even been altered numerous times since KJV. It is not a literal translation and numerous books were left out because… they didn’t like what was said.

      Don’t get me wrong; Christianity has many laidable tenets - “Don’t murder”, “Don’t steal”, etc. - basic rules for having a maintainable civilization, same as other major religions.

      But don’t pretend it is some static thing. It has been and is manipulated for polical purposes and is used to justify horrific treatment of others (same as other religions).

      You might want to look more closely, but beware - studying religion too carefully is often the birth event of athiests.

      • Flax
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        30 days ago

        So is David Cross proposing that the original texts were translated into the Vulgate, then Geneva Bible to KJV, then KJV was translated into the NASB which was then translated into the NIV and then ESV… Or something?

        The Bible we have today, let’s say the ESV, is translated from the original texts. Meaning any changes made by popes or King James or whatever are gone (you actually can see this as some parts are in the KJV, like the note in 1 John 5:7-8 which was not part of the original text, or the Lord’s Prayer doxology in Matthew 6:13) and they are translated from the earliest texts. They don’t lie to you either about the parts we cannot be completely sure of such as John 8:1-11 or the ending to Mark’s Gospel. So what David Cross is actually saying here is irrelevant - if I were to take a text and badly translated it, then someone comes along and fixes my translation by correctly retranslating from the original text, their translation wouldn’t be bad simply because mine exists - which is what you would be arguing for with your logic.

        Also if we left out books because we didn’t like what they said, we would have left out the Sermon on the Mount and the parts telling you not to have multiple wives.

        • lorgo_numputz@beehaw.org
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          29 days ago

          My last response was unacceptably juvenile so I’ve retracted it - with my apologies.

          I’ll stick to the actually important part.

          We may differ on matters ecclesiastical but this is all I really care about: If you are a Christian are you the type that actually follows the word of Jesus?

          Not churchgoing, I don’t care about that. Instead, being someone who forgives others, is charitable and helps those in need, as commanded by Jesus?

          If so then you and I have no problems. I like you already - which means it makes even less sense to make enemies with you over the internet.

          Enjoy your Friday.

          • Flax
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            29 days ago

            Just can claim things are wrong about anything, doesn’t make them true.