PHILADELPHIA (TNS) — The Lehigh Valley school district that tried to ban an after-school Satan Club from meeting on its property earlier this year has agreed to pay $200,000 to cover attorney fees. The school will also give the club the same access to school facilities as “comparable groups.”

In the settlement finalized Thursday between the Saucon Valley School District and The Satanic Temple, the district also agreed to not retaliate or discriminate against club members, families or volunteers “on the basis of their viewpoint” or for the “exercise of their First Amendment rights.”

As the result of a May 1 preliminary injunction by U.S. District Judge John M. Gallagher, the After School Satan Club, the first in Pennsylvania, was allowed to meet for a specified number of sessions last spring. Initially, the district had given the group permission to meet. The judge was not convinced that permission was rescinded, as the district claimed, because the club’s advertisements failed to say the district didn’t sponsor the group. Rather, he said he believed the approval was yanked because of the Satanic Temple’s “controversial viewpoint.”

Gallagher wrote: “When confronted with a challenge to free speech, the government’s first instinct must be to forward expression rather than quash it.”

Mark W. Fitzgerald, attorney for Saucon Valley, said the district denies it discriminated against The Satanic Temple, its club or “the approximately four students” who attended its meetings.

“As always, the District’s priorities are the education of its students and the safety of its students and staff,” Fitzgerald said. “By enforcing its policies regarding the use of facilities, the district maintained a safe educational environment for its students in the face of credible threats of violence that had already caused closure of the schools and panic in the community.”

He said the $200,000 will paid by the district’s insurance and that “all organizations will be following the district’s Facilities Use Policy in the future.”

The arrival of the After School Satan Club — its motto is Educatin’ with Satan — has spurred backlash and protest. Earlier this year, district schools had to be closed for a day after someone phoned in a threat about the club. Police later arrested a North Carolina man for making the call.

Sara Rose, deputy legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, which represented The Satanic Temple, was pleased the district will grant the After School Satan Club equal access to school facilities.

“This settlement sends a powerful reminder to all school districts that the First Amendment protects the viewpoints and beliefs of all people and faiths, and we will take action when they forget or ignore this lesson,” Rose said.

“We are pleased that this matter has been resolved and that the school district has agreed to stop all discrimination against us,” said June Everett, director of The Satanic Temple’s After School Satan Club program.

Everett said the children who attended the club meetings at the Saucon Valley Middle School enjoyed them.

“It’s for them that we took on this legal fight in the first place, and we won’t hesitate to do so again if other school districts continue to enact discriminatory policies,” she said.

But the Hellertown After School Satan Club may not resume right away even though now it could.

The Satanic Temple members try to start their After School Satan Clubs in public school districts that have allowed Christian-based religious programs to use their facilities. They tried to start a club in Saucon Valley because a Good News Club, which is Christian, had been permitted by the district. Satanic Temple members say they want to give families a choice, but otherwise do not support religion in the public schools.

Everett said since the district’s Good News Club appears now to be inactive, its After School Satan Club will be on hold. But she said they will seek to reopen it if the Christian club resumes.

“We don’t go into schools when there aren’t religious clubs operating,” Everett said.

Satanic Temple officials say their more-than-700,000 members do not worship Satan and they don’t attempt to convert children in their clubs to Satanism. Satanic Temple members said Satan is a symbol of the “Eternal Rebel.” They oppose tyranny and support individualism, empathy and compassion.

_____

©2023 The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC. Visit at inquirer.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.