The Satanic Temple to offer religious education program at Edgewood Elementary School in Ohio

An elementary school in Ohio will allow its students to participate in a religious education program offered by The Satanic Temple, a "non-theistic" organization that promotes secularism and is recognized as a tax-exempt church by the IRS.

The Hellions Academy of Independent Learning (HAIL) program was created by The Satanic Temple in response to the growing number of similarly implemented Christian Release Time Religious Instruction (RTRI) programs, according to the organization's news release.

RTRI programs originated in 1952 and allow students to learn about religious beliefs for a short period in the middle of the school day. Edgewood Elementary School in Marysville, Ohio will be the first public school to implement the HAIL program, and it will contrast with the LifeWise program which removes students for 55 minutes each week to receive Bible-based character education.

Due to the rise of RTRI programs, The Satanic Temple, whose website explains "does not believe in an actual Satan," argues that Christian groups are being used to exclude non-Christian students and promote Christianity, according to the release. Field trips and other activities offered exclusively to Christian students are being used as leverage to encourage religious conversation amongst children, the organization said.

“It is sad these programs feel the need to use the peer pressure to gain adherents to their religion,”Erin Helian, the Satanic Temple's director of campaign operations, said in the release. “However one measures a religion, it is not a good look to prey upon children by bribing them with field trips and snacks.”

June Everett, the campaign director for the organization's After School Satan Club and an ordained minister for The Satanic Temple, confirmed to Paste BN in an email that the program will launch this month at Edgewood Elementary. She did not disclose a particular launch date.

Paste BN contacted Edgewood Elementary School on Thursday but has not received a response.

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What will The Satanic Temple's HAIL program consist of?

The Satanic Temple's HAIL program will aim "to fill the gap by providing an alternate RTRI experience to all students, regardless of religious affiliation," the organization said.

To accomplish its goal, the organization will have vetted instructors in place who will present students with "various educational arts and crafts, games and community service projects through which they can learn about Satanic values, such as empathy, compassion, and justice," according to the release.

The Salem, Massachusetts-headquartered organization is looking to expand its program into other schools that have already approved other RTRI programs. In addition to Edgewood Elementary, the HAIL program is also launching this month at a school in Bristol, Tennessee, and one more is lined up for a January launch in Michigan, according to Everett.

In the email to Paste BN, Everett said The Satanic Temple only establishes its programs and clubs in public school districts where a parent has expressed interest in its presence.

"We aren’t trying to shut the LifeWise Academy down, but I do think a lot of school districts don’t realize when they open the door for one religion, they open it for all of them,” Everett told WCMH.

The 1952 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Zorach v. Clauson found that RTRI programs did not violate the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, albeit the religion could not be taught in the public school’s facilities or use public resources of any kind, according to The Satanic Temple's release. This ruling also made it clear that schools could not discriminate against religious groups if they approved RTRI programs for their students, the organization said.

'At first, I thought it was a joke'

Crystal Dille, a parent with three children in Marysville Schools, told WBNS, "At first, I thought it was a joke." Dille then said she does not support religious instruction in schools.

"Honestly, I would prefer that it be separated. I don’t think that either one has any business being in school," Dille further explained to the TV station. "I would like to be the one in charge of knowing exactly what my kids are being taught."

Dille also noted how the Satanic symbols give her and possibly children the wrong impression, rather than what the organization is aiming to teach, according to WBNS, which also reported that the program will be held once a month on Wednesdays.

LifeWise Academy CEO Joel Penton told WCMH, "LifeWise isn’t fearful of other organizations offering RTRI."

"We believe all families should have the opportunity to choose religious study during school hours and we trust parents to make the best choice for their children," Penton said, per the Columbus, Ohio-based TV station.

More about The Satanic Temple

Founded in 2013 by activist Lucien Greaves, The Satanic Temple's mission is to "encourage benevolence and empathy, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense, oppose injustice and undertake noble pursuits for the individual will," according to the organization's release.

The organization's bio touts how it has "publicly confronted hate groups, fought for the abolition of corporal punishment in schools, applied for equal representation when religious installations are placed on public property (and)... organized clubs alongside other religious after-school clubs in schools besieged by proselytizing organizations."

Satan Temple congregations have also been formed in Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

Jonathan Limehouse covers breaking and trending news for Paste BN. Reach him at JLimehouse@gannett.com.