re: Uproar as after-school Satan club forms at Tennessee elementary school

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The kids didn't push for this.

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Wouldn't it have to be student-led?

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That's fine if they are willing to give up their federal funds

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If the federal government withholds federal funding from Tennessee because Tennessee passes legislation prohibiting the establishment of a club for the church of Satan, then the federal government is passing a law respecting the establishment of religion. Uh-oh... Constitutionally they can't do that. So - Swing and a miss.

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Nearly 1 million Tennessee students and more than 100,000 teachers and school staff receive direct support from federal funds. All 147 local school districts in Tennessee receive at least one federal grant, according to the state Department of Education.Nov 15, 2023

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This has absolutely nothing to do with whether the state of Tennessee may pass legislation relating to the topic at hand. This is what is known as a red herring fallacy/argument.

But, to entertain your presentation of this data in support of your argument, I submit that nowhere in the Constitution is there any mention of the federal government having the authority to provide for education. If it chooses to do so, it must be without strings attached. Of course we know that this has never been the case, and in this regard the federal government is acting without authority and in a tyrannical and manipulative manner. By the very wording of the Constitution, the federal government has only those rights and powers enumerated within the Constitution, and nowhere within the Constitution of the United States does one find that authority granted to the federal government.

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I submit that nowhere in the Constitution is there any mention of the federal government having the authority to provide for education. If it chooses to do so, it must be without strings attached.

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Are you familiar with how the drinking age in Louisiana was raised from 18 to 21?

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Are you familiar with how the drinking age in Louisiana was raised from 18 to 21?

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Very much so. I was a student at LSU at the time and was (luckily) grandfathered in as it was raised each year. The federal gov't threatened to withhold funding for the interstates if Louisiana didn't bend the knee and raise the legal age for alcohol consumption to 21. Louisiana resisted for a while essentially telling Uncle Sam to "stick it" since taxes derived from the sale of alcohol to 18, 19, and 20 year-olds surpassed the amount of dollars received from the federal government for roads and highways. Eventually the promise of "free money" was too much for the Louisiana legislature to bear, so they ceded the rights and liberties of a demographic that had little sway in the outcome of elections in order to line their pockets.

Yeah. I lived through that. I wasn't directly affected, but I also was not a fan of it since it afforded more illegal control of state legislation to the federal government in order to receive funding.

Louisiana should have sued the federal government for the funding without making the concessions demanded since, constitutionally, the authority to build roads was conferred upon congress. That was a huge failure on the part of the State of Louisiana (as well as other states) to hold the federal government's feet to the fire.

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Only two things you need to read. Let em have their club if they want. Maybe then the self righteous will stop knocking on my door to try and move me to their faith. Apparently practicing religion is good in school unless it is a "bad" one

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They don’t need to be promoting satan to elementary age children you fricking idiot

20 years from now one of those kids in the club will run for office and someone will post a picture of the kid in the "Satan Club."

Where are the parents?

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Show me these words in the first amendment. After all, we're going by letter of the law, right?

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OK. Check the Equal access act

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The Equal Access Act became law in 1984, designed to end “perceived widespread discrimination” against religious speech in public schools.

While Congress recognized the constitutional prohibition against government promotion of religion, it believed that nonschool-sponsored student speech, including religious speech, should not be excised from the school environment.

The Supreme Court, by a vote of 8-1, held in Westside Community Schools v. Mergens (1990) that the Equal Access Act is constitutional. These guidelines are designed to help school board members, administrators, teachers, parents, religious leaders and students understand and conform to the act.

The name of the act explains its essential thrust. There are three basic concepts.

The first is nondiscrimination. If a public secondary school permits student groups to meet for student-initiated activities not directly related to the school curriculum, then it is required to treat all such student groups equally. This means the school cannot discriminate against any students conducting such meetings “on the basis of the religious, political, philosophical, or other content of the speech at such meetings.” This language was used to make clear that religious speech was to receive equal treatment, not preferred treatment.

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They don't have to allow the Satan club. But if they allow other clubs, they must allow the Satan club and give them the same treatment.

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The Equal Access Act of 1984 forbids public schools from receiving federal funds if they deny students the First Amendment right to conduct meetings because of the “religious, political, philosophical, or other content of the speech at such meetings.”

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If they don't believe in or worship Satan, then why make that name the focus of their group?

They could just call themselves the After School Agnositc Club if there were serious about “self-directed education by supporting the intellectual and creative interests of students”.

They just want to create conflict.