CV NEWS FEED // Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sternly rebuked satanic organizations after signing a law allowing volunteer chaplains to minister at Florida public schools.
“Now some have said if you do a school chaplain program that somehow you’re going to have Satanists running around in all our schools,” the governor told reporters Thursday.
“We’re not playing those games in Florida,” he stressed. “That is not a religion. That is not qualifying to be able to participate in this.”
“We’re going to be using common sense when it comes to this, so you don’t have to worry about that,” DeSantis, a Catholic, added.
The governor’s remarks quashed the desires of both The Satanic Temple (TST) and secularist groups to allow satanists in the chaplain program.
In late February, TST’s “director of ministry” stated: “Our ministers look forward to participating in opportunities to do good in the community, including the opportunities created by this bill, right alongside the clergy of other religions.”
At the time, a lawyer at a secular activist organization also expressed support for satanist groups to be covered under the program, referring to Satanism as “a disfavored minority religion.”
“I think there is a 100% chance you see satanic chaplains, and also of course other religious minorities that the majority-Christian population might not be a fan of,” Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) Action Fund Senior Policy Counsel Ryan Jayne opined, also in February.
“The Satanic Temple is a church, whether people like it or not,” Jayne claimed. “And the idea that you can just exclude a disfavored minority religion from a bill, it just runs straight into the First Amendment.”
In a post to X (formerly Twitter) Thursday, DeSantis said that he “was proud to sign HB 931, which gives schools the authority to allow volunteer chaplains to come to campus and offer counseling support for students, with parental consent.”
Florida’s Voice elaborated that “[t]he volunteer chaplain program [created by HB 931] will allow faith-based leaders to provide support, services and programs, as defined by each school board or charter school that chooses to allow for the position.”
“[HB 931] states that statutory background checks and screenings will take place before any volunteer chaplain interacts with minors,” Florida’s Voice added:
If they choose to participate, parents will be able to elect a chaplain for their child from a list provided by the school district. The list must indicate the chaplain’s religious affiliation. All chaplain names and their affiliations will be published on the school district’s website for public knowledge.
DeSantis noted on X that on the same day, he “also signed HB 1317, which authorizes school districts to allow civic and patriotic organizations, such as Big Brothers-Big Sisters and Little League baseball, to visit schools and encourage student involvement.”
Today I was proud to sign HB 931, which gives schools the authority to allow volunteer chaplains to come to campus and offer counseling support for students, with parental consent.
I also signed HB 1317, which authorizes school districts to allow civic and patriotic… pic.twitter.com/bknbPahSN9
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) April 18, 2024
This is not the first time the Catholic governor has taken a hardline stance against Satanism and declared that it is in fact not a “religion.”
In December, DeSantis posted in support of Michael Cassidy, the Christian retired military officer who destroyed a “holiday Satanic display” in the Iowa state capitol.
“Satan has no place in our society and should not be recognized as a ‘religion’ by the federal government,” he wrote on X at the time.
“Good prevails over evil – that’s the American spirit,” he added.
Satan has no place in our society and should not be recognized as a “religion” by the federal government. I’ll chip in to contribute to this veteran’s legal defense fund.
Good prevails over evil — that’s the American spirit. https://t.co/p1vmTcl8c9
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) December 15, 2023
The day after Cassidy beheaded the infamous Iowa Satan statue, CatholicVote Vice President Joshua Mercer debunked critics’ assertions that the veteran’s action “violated the First Amendment.”
“What they don’t understand is that they are wrong on the law,” he said on the LOOPcast at the time.
As CatholicVote reported December 15:
Mercer cited the Supreme Court’s unanimous 2009 decision of Pleasant Grove City v. Summum.
In the ruling, all nine justices agreed that Pleasant Grove, Utah had the right to prevent the Summum (a new religious movement) from placing a monument in a city park where a statue of the the Ten Commandments was allowed to stand.
The Court stated that “placing a monument in a public park is government speech,” Mercer clarified. “So, it is not covered by the First Amendment.”
TST has described itself as “a non-theistic religion that views Satan as a literary figure who represents a metaphorical construct of rejecting tyranny and championing the human mind and spirit.”
>> CV VICE PRESIDENT: TEARING DOWN SATAN STATUE DID NOT VIOLATE FIRST AMENDMENT <<
