Portland elementary school will host After School Satan club

PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) - The After School Satan club is coming to an elementary school in Portland very soon.



It has parents of students at Sacramento Elementary School talking after the Parkrose School District allowed it, by law.



Parents dropping their kids off at Sacramento Elementary Wednesday morning were buzzing after finding out about the club.



"I just don't want my kids to be around it," parent Mary Jane Damatan said.



"Anything that has to do with a satanic environment just doesn't sound like a healthy environment," mom of three Alisa Sherman said.



Thomas Holt, who has a first grader at Sacramento, says parents "are going to see the word 'satanic' and go, 'Oh no, no thank you.'"



The new club, set to start later this fall, is called the After School Satan Club and is run by the Satanic Temple, a national organization.



Finn Rezz heads up the Satanic Temple's Portland chapter. He says they use satanism as a metaphor, basing it off of the literary interpretation where the devil is a rebel, questioning cultural norms and labels. Rezz says they are offering the polar opposite of the Good News Club,  a non-denominational Christian club that meets weekly.



A 2001 Supreme Court ruling gives both groups the right to hold meetings at schools. Still, KATU learned some parents are banding together and will try to challenge the Parkrose School District on the matter.