On January 20, the city school district of Lebanon, Ohio, released a statement in response to a group of parents concerned over the After-School Satan Club meeting. According to a school official, the club’s organizers were able to complete the “required application, the facility use agreement, and provided the necessary documentation, and were approved.”

“The district does not and is not legally allowed to discriminate against any groups who wish to rent our facilities, including religiously-affiliated groups,” the school official added.

Earlier this month, a similar situation unfolded at Jane Addams Elementary School in Moline, Illinois. Parents were outraged after flyers about a “Satan’s Club” began circulating in the school. One parent expressed frustration online, asking, “How is this even a thing? Who approved this?”

Candace Sountris, the Assistant to the Superintendent of the Moline-Coal Valley School District, explained that there are “policies and administrative procedures in place which allow for community use of its publicly funded facilities outside the school day.” This includes religiously affiliated groups such as the Good News Club, an after-school child evangelism program.

Dr. Rachel Savage, superintendent of the Moline-Coal Valley Schools, explained that even though the schools allow After-School Satan Club to hold meetings, the club is “not affiliated with Jane Addams or the district.” The meetings hosted by After-School Satan’s Club are “not generated by the district,” Dr. Savage said.

Although pushbacks against the After-School Satan’s Club are recent, the club has been around for years. In 2016, Satanic Temple’s co-founder Lucian Greaves announced that they would create an alternative to the fundamentalist after-school club called Good News Club from New York to Arizona. “It’s critical that children understand that there are multiple perspectives on all issues,” Greaves said.

Later in the same year, After-School Satan’s Clubs were started in Los Angeles and were slated to be opened in Washington.

According to the Satanic Temple’s website, After School Satan Clubs plan to meet in any school where the Christian Good News Clubs operate. “We prefer to give children an appreciation of the natural wonders surrounding them, not a fear of everlasting other-worldly horrors,” the website added.