News of a Satanic temple attempting to start an after-school club for children on school property in Virginia is the latest in a rising pattern of public activity by groups that openly identify as followers of Satan.

On Tuesday, reports surfaced that The Satanic Temple in Chesapeake, Va. had been approved to use a room on B.M. Williams Primary School property for an “After School Satan Club” (ASSC). But after one of the parent sponsors removed their name from the application, Superintendent Dr. Jared Cotton announced that the temple’s “approval for building use has been canceled.” ASSC organizers later told reporters that they planned on resubmitting the application with a new sponsor.

According to ASSC volunteer Rose Bastet, the club’s purpose is not for children to worship Satan but is meant to offer opportunities for students to “learn about science, arts, crafts, and compassion.” “We have no interest in theological discussions with children; that is best left to their parents,” said Bastet. She claimed that the ASSC is meant to be an alternative to an after-school Bible study club offered by an evangelical church.

Meg Kilgannon, senior fellow for Education Studies at Family Research Council, expressed skepticism about the club’s purported benevolent purpose.

“This Satanist church is seeking to access school rental space as an organization and then frame it as offering an ‘after school activity,’” she told The Washington Stand. “They are trying to provoke. Schools, especially in rural areas, rent school rooms as meeting space on weekends. A big part of that income is from churches. So the Satan club wants to be rejected so they can say, ‘If you reject our ‘church’ you can’t rent space to any church.’ It’s no surprise that evil is coming from a group devoted to Satan, or that their attack is directed at children and the church.”

Kilgannon went on to observe that equal access laws will likely require the school to offer its public space to the ASSC if the club reapplies for access.

“I think the school system may have to rent the space to them,” she said. “If they do, it would be great for a local church or another civic organization to offer a super fun free alternative in the school parking lot, with a moon bounce, games, food, etc.”

“Believers should also pray about this situation,” she continued.

School activities are not the only area where groups that openly identify with Satan are asserting themselves. During oral arguments for the 303 Creative v. Elenis Supreme Court case on Monday, protesters dressed in pentagrams, masks, and hoods showed up in front of the court to disrupt a rally in support of religious liberty. They shouted satanic slogans through bullhorns and held signs reading “The Future is Satanic.”

On June 24, following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision which overturned Roe v. Wade’s blanket abolishment of state abortion restrictions, a large group of protesters began chanting “Hell!” with multiple protestors shouting, “Let’s hear it for hell, let’s hear it for Satan!” and “Hail Satan!”

“I think the Satanic protestors have been out for a while now, but post-Dobbs they will be more desperate to deceive and destroy,” Kilgannon noted.