{"id":12784,"date":"2025-03-27T12:44:31","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T16:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=12784"},"modified":"2025-03-27T12:44:31","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T16:44:31","slug":"is-trump-to-blame-for-the-rise-of-satanism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2025\/03\/is-trump-to-blame-for-the-rise-of-satanism.html","title":{"rendered":"Is Trump to Blame For the Rise of Satanism?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Left: Chip Somodevilla \/ Shutterstock.com | Right: @thesatanictemple \/ Instagram<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Increasing access of satanism in schools may be linked to actions of the Trump administration, according to some critics. The Satanic Temple (ST) has been offering programs in schools to teach students the tenets of satanism through new religious release programs<\/a>. The program is named the Hellions Academy of Independent Learning or HAIL for short. June Everett, a representative for the Satanic Temple, has said people get the wrong idea when they hear satanism. \u201cWe are not devil worshipers,\u201d she said<\/a>. \u201cDifferent Satanists across the United States will give you different answers depending on how they personally believe. But as a whole, we are non-theistic, meaning we don’t believe in any supernatural deities, and that includes, you know, God or Satan.\u201d<\/p>\n

The program has promoted itself as an alternative to Lifewise, a religious release program that allows students who sign up to learn about the Bible. Betty Elswick, a volunteer and organizer for the HAIL program in the Marysville school district in Ohio has said the program is about representation. \u201cThis program is to make sure kids have a place to go. It\u2019s not teaching Satanism; it\u2019s talking about ethics and being part of a community. We want it to be positive. We felt as parents, with this policy in place, we also wanted the kids to have representation no matter what group was here,\u201d she said<\/a>. She claimed that students had been bullied or teased for not participating in the Lifewise option.<\/p>\n

Florida governor Ron DeSantis has claimed that the Trump administration is to blame for the rise of such programs in schools. \u201cI heard this and then I was like, well, how did it get there? Is that even a religion? And lo and behold, the Trump administration gave them approval to be under the IRS as a religion,\u201d said DeSantis<\/a>. \u201cSo that gave them the legal ability to potentially do it. My view would be that that\u2019s not a religion that the founding fathers were trying to create. But I do think that IRS ruling, I was really surprised to see that they did that.\u201d The IRS ruling enables the Satanic Temple to receive tax-exempt status and apply for faith-based grants. It also protects programs such as HAIL under the First Amendment. The designation has enabled the ST to feature displays at state capitols<\/a>. Despite the outrage such displays have caused amongst Christian groups, state authorities have asserted their right to be there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Increasing access of satanism in schools may be linked to actions of the Trump administration, according to some critics. The Satanic Temple (ST) has been offering programs in schools to teach students the tenets of satanism through new religious release programs. The program is named the Hellions Academy of Independent Learning or HAIL for short.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":12787,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nIs Trump to Blame For the Rise of Satanism?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Critics link rise of Satanic Temple school programs to Trump-era policies granting religious status\u2014sparking debate.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2025\/03\/is-trump-to-blame-for-the-rise-of-satanism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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