{"id":21269,"date":"2024-03-15T10:04:18","date_gmt":"2024-03-15T14:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=21269"},"modified":"2024-03-15T10:17:03","modified_gmt":"2024-03-15T14:17:03","slug":"florida-bills-would-let-satanic-priests-serve-as-volunteer-chaplains-in-public-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2024\/03\/florida-bills-would-let-satanic-priests-serve-as-volunteer-chaplains-in-public-schools","title":{"rendered":"New Bill Would Let Satanic Priests Serve as Volunteer Chaplains in Public Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Florida lawmakers recently proposed two bills that, if passed, could allow for Satanic priests to serve as volunteer chaplains in public schools. The companion bills, Senate Bill 1044 and House Bill 931, would give schools the ability to choose which volunteer chaplains can provide counseling services to students. Under the bill, each school could adopt a policy authorizing volunteer school chaplains to provide support services and programs for students.<\/p>\n

The bill also requires principals of schools with volunteer school chaplains to inform all parents of the services while also requiring written parental consent before students participate or receive the services. Schools would be required to provide parents with a list of volunteers who have undergone a complete background check. The parents would then be able to select a chaplain of their choosing from the list.\u00a0Under the U.S. Constitution, the state is not allowed to dictate the religious groups that can participate as volunteers, so it could open the door to groups like The Satanic Temple to allow their clergy members to offer services to students.<\/p>\n

Lucien Greaves, co-founder and spokesperson of The Satanic Temple, told Fox News Digital as long as the Florida government wants to blur the line between Church and State by allowing chaplains into schools, The Satanic Temple is ready to participate with hopes of preserving government viewpoint neutrality, but also as an alternative to \u201cproselytizing evangelism.\u201d He said, \u201cIn an effort to dismiss concerns about bringing religious viewpoints into schools, advocates for chaplain bills have a scripted response that insists their interest is in merely providing additional \u2018emotional support\u2019 for potentially troubled youth. If that were true, they could simply be calling upon volunteers who hold licensure as counselors to offer their services in the schools in their communities.\u201d<\/p>\n