BEDFORD COUNTY, Va. – A flier advertising a family movie night is causing a stir in Bedford County. Not because of the movie itself, but because of who is hosting the event and where it will take place.
June Everett is the director of the Afterschool Satan Club for the Satanic Temple.
“People can move past the ‘S word’ as I like to call it, Satan, and actually dig a little deeper into what we are,” Everett said.
The Satanic Temple is a religion in the eyes of the United States. It has the same rights and protections under the first amendment as other religions.
“It shows a lot of hypocrisy in people who claim to be patriots and claim to believe in the constitution and the first amendment,” Everett said.
The movie night is scheduled for February 25 in the Jefferson Forest High School auditorium.
Raziah Stanley is a senior at JFHS and doesn’t like the idea.
“As real as God is to me, Satan is just as real,” Stanley said. “To open the door and let him in is not fair to the kids that have to be here every day.”
Jazz Andrea went through Bedford County schools and doesn’t see any issues.
“If you have a problem with this, you should have a problem with any other religion holding an event at the school,” Andrea said
Andrea said she wants people to look at it through a different lens.
“If someone is raising their child in a Buddhist home, or a Muslim home or a Hindu home and there are Christian sponsored events and Christian things happening at a school, they may take offense to that, so you just have to look at it from someone else’s perspective,” Andrea said.
The Satanic Temple said it’s no big deal.
“We are not going to be pushing our religion on any of the kids in the school, we are not going to be prophesying to any of the kids in the school district,” Everett said.
Regardless, Stanley thinks the event promotes negative ideals.
“The last thing we need from my point of view is to welcome in more evil,” Stanley said.
Everett wants people to know the school system is following the law.