Ojai's After School Satan Club
The valley as a microcosm of American political and religious polarization
Greetings readers! I really wanted to stay in my research hole and not come out until I have a new installment in my series exploring Ojai homelessness.1
BUT with hellfire raging across Southern California and an inability to look away from social media — I got distracted by a Facebook post.
Specifically — the establishment of an “After School Satan Club” at my former elementary school. (It’s always something, isn’t it).
Obviously, I had to investigate. And what I discovered is this story kicked off last December — that’s according to a pair of Topa Topa Elementary School parents we’ll call A and B2.
“It started when I received a flyer from the school for the Good News Club,” Parent A recalled.
THE GOOD NEWS CLUB
I know — this story is supposed to be about the After School Satan Club. But this drama really kicked off with an on-campus, after-school, Bible-based club sponsored by the Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) of Ventura County and Ojai’s First Baptist Church: the Good News Club.
“[Parent B] asked, ‘Are they allowed to do that?’” A recalled. Later, they spotted Good News Club signage at Topa Topa Elementary inviting children to a “Christmas Pizza Party” after school. The sign promised “pizza” and “fun.”
(I’ll note that the event required a permission slip. I’ll also note that the religious aspects of the pizza party are not immediately apparent via the signage, unless you know the meaning of the word “evangelism.”)
According to a short video on the Child Evangelism Fellowship’s YouTube page, the “Christmas Party Club is one of the Party Club ministries of Child Evangelism Fellowship that presents the Gospel to churched and unchurched children. Christmas Party Clubs include a Gospel-centered Bible lesson, games, a memory verse, songs, and more to teach children around the world about the true story of Christmas.” Take a look (seriously):
“When I got the flyer, my child was like, ‘Oh, I was invited to a pizza party.’” Parent A said. “And I just threw it right away and was like, ‘This isn't a pizza party. I'll take you to get pizza.’”
So — let’s answer Parent B’s question: can a religious organization deliver explicitly religious content to public school students? Yes — after school.
GOOD NEWS CLUB V. MILFORD CENTRAL SCHOOL
That’s thanks to a 2001 U.S Supreme Court decision: Good News Club v. Milford Central School. In short — Milford Central, a public school in New York state, denied the Good News Club’s request to host after-school club meetings on school property because, “the proposed use—to sing songs, hear Bible lessons, memorize scripture, and pray—was the equivalent of religious worship,” according to a Supreme Court filing. The Good News Club argued that their free speech rights (under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution) were violated.
And they won. (Notoriously conservative) Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas authored the opinion for the majority (six justices found in favor of the Good News Club; three dissented).
According to Thomas, “What matters for purposes of the Free Speech Clause is that we can see no logical difference in kind between the invocation of Christianity by the Club and the invocation of teamwork, loyalty, or patriotism by other associations to provide a foundation for their lessons.”
Another important argument by Thomas, “According to Milford, children will perceive that the school is endorsing the Club and will feel coercive pressure to participate, because the Club’s activities take place on school grounds, even though they occur during non-school hours. This argument is unpersuasive…. The Good News Club seeks nothing more than to be treated neutrally and given access to speak about the same topics as are other groups. Because allowing the Club to speak on school grounds would ensure neutrality, not threaten it…”
Justice David Souter (a Republican appointed by George H.W. Bush) was joined by (notoriously liberal) Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in his dissent.
Souter wrote, “It is beyond question that Good News intends to use the public school premises not for the mere discussion of a subject from a particular, Christian point of view, but for an evangelical service of worship calling children to commit themselves in an act of Christian conversion,” adding, “[The majority] avoids this reality only by resorting to the bland and general characterization of Good News’ activity as teaching of morals and character, from a religious standpoint. If the majority’s statement ignores reality, as it surely does, then today’s holding may be understood only in equally generic terms. Otherwise, indeed, this case would stand for the remarkable proposition that any public school opened for civic meetings must be opened for use as a church, synagogue, or mosque.”
The votes, however, were on Thomas’ side.
(Isn’t it interesting to see Supreme Court decisions in action at home? See also: Grants Pass v. Johnson. Anyways — back to Ojai.)
THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF OJAI
While Good News Club programming is sponsored by the CEF of Ventura County3, Topa Topa’s chapter is run by members of the First Baptist Church (FBC) of Ojai, FBC Pastor Ben Ruhl confirmed.
And the Good News Club isn’t FBC’s only involvement at Topa Topa. FBC’s website also refers to its “Topa Topa Ministry” — wherein church members “spend time playing with the kids at recess” on Thursdays.
Pastor Ruhl clarified, “There is no Bible/religious activity involved on Thursdays, just helping out on the playground as a way to love and support the school.” He also stated that FBC’s volunteerism at Topa Topa “isn't an official ministry per say.” The Good News Club, on the other hand, is “a Christian club that believes the Bible and teaches Bible lessons. Attendance is voluntary and requires parental permission,” Ruhl said.
For Topa Topa Parent A, “[That] obviously sets off alarm bells… representatives from a church were coming and playing with our child. And that we weren't informed about it.”
I asked Ojai Unified School District Superintendent Sherrill Knox for more information — she referenced the 2001 Supreme Court decision. “As a public school district,” she said, “we're required to provide equal access to our facilities for any group that meets our policies, no matter their religious or philosophical views.”
Knox added that outside volunteer groups have long been involved on campus, religious and otherwise:
“Since I was the principal of Topa 11 years ago, we have always had people from different churches approach us offering to help in different capacities. For example, many church representatives have donated time and furniture to upgrade all the district's school sites' staff lounges, they have in the past and continue to bring treats for staff, they have donated items such as playground equipment and off and on have helped by being volunteers to support recess activities.
“Many folks from different churches have offered to support the schools. The Rotary Club has also sent volunteers to read to students. Rotary has also supported and organized the floating classroom field trip at Lake Casitas. Food for Thought volunteers with students to provide garden education. Those are just a few that come to mind.
“All volunteers fill out paperwork, submit a copy of their license and are checked through the Megan's Law website. They have to check in and check out and wear a badge.”
Still, Parent A was disturbed. And they dove into research.
“I was looking up what parents [can] do to raise [awareness about] this and saw that the Satanic Temple had this program. They had their own after-school program that was an alternative to the Good News Club that created representation for children who were non-religious or from alternative religion[s] because it's non-theistic club. And their philosophy behind the club sounded great. They wanted to talk about empathy and science and education. And so I reached out to them to see if they'd be interested in starting a club in Ojai.”
And they were!
THE AFTER SCHOOL SATAN CLUB
The Satanic Temple is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization (as are the CEF of Ventura County and FBC). According to June Everett, the campaign director for the After School Satan Club (and an ordained minister of the Satanic Temple), “We don't believe in [or] worship Satan or the devil. We look to Satan as a symbol of opposition to arbitrary authority.”
Everett, who is based in Colorado, became involved with the Satanic Temple after a Good News Club opened at her children’s school.
“My son came home one day upset, [saying], ‘If we don't start going to church, if we don't accept Jesus, then they're going to take you away from me and I'm going to burn in hell and you're going to burn in hell. And I'm never going to see Molly again,’ who was our little pug at the time,” Everett recalled. “And I'm like, ‘whoa… what's going on here?’ So I started going down that dark hole of the Good News Club and the Child Evangelism Fellowship.”
According to Everett, the After School Satan Club is “an initiative to kind of combat the Good News Club.” They only start chapters in schools that have a Good News Club, and only when invited, she said.
THE CHILD EVANGELISM FELLOWSHIP
Though I wasn’t able to speak on the record with the CEF of Ventura County4, I did have the opportunity to chat with long-time CEF member Jackie Kwasny. She’s a retired teacher who used to run Good News Club chapters in California. Kwasny has since relocated to Wyoming, where she runs a Good News Club chapter.
According to Kwasny, CEF has been around since 1937 — and it’s not limited to the United States.
“We are all over the world and our goal is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone. And our focus is basically on children, praying that they will go home and share with their parents and get involved in a Christian Church,” she explained. “One of the things about Good News Club, which is so wonderful, is that usually we're in the school and a majority of the time we reach children who don't go to church. And so we get to tell them about Jesus, why Jesus came, what does it mean to believe in Jesus and how believing in Jesus changes our lives.”
I asked Kwasny if it’s common practice for church sponsors of Good News Club chapters to have a presence on campus during school hours — as FBC does with with its Topa Topa Ministry. “No, that is not common,” she said.
Kwasny continued, “I mean, ok, I'm a retired school teacher. I taught in California for almost like 30 some years. And during that time, as a strong believer in Jesus Christ… I always tried to have positive good Christian ethics, but I didn't label it Christian ethics. But if a child comes up to me after school and says, ‘Ms. Jackie, where do you go to church? Or do you go to church?’ Then I would, that child has opened the door for a conversation, but I would not initiate it course.”
(I do want to remind readers that the FBC pastor stated that their recess activities don’t involve “Bible/religious activity.”)
MOVING FORWARD
Topa Topa Elementary’s After School Satan Club has yet to host its first meeting. And Everett doesn’t intend to publicize the meeting date or time. “In the past, we have published our dates and times, and what that means is the whole public from all over come in and protest,” she said.
(Students interested in joining the After School Satan Club must sign a permission slip. Once that’s complete, Everett said, the family will receive meeting information.)
According to Everett, there are two other After School Satan Clubs in California (and five total in the United States, including Ojai). She described a chaotic scene in September 2023, when Lancaster, CA community members protested the After School Satan Club’s presence at their local library.
“The protesters that showed up were blocking people from coming into the building and screaming and yelling with crosses,” Everett recalled.
“Our goal isn't deliberately to just shut [Good News Clubs] down,” she clarified “We've actually had the Good News Club come to [school] board meetings and say, ‘Listen, just let them have their club. If the families don't sign up and the kids don't go, they'll go away. Just let 'em have their club because they have the same right to be there as we do.’ So we're not best friends, but we understand each other. But we also don't believe that religion should be in the school… as long as they're there, we're going to be there too.”
One Topa Topa School staff member spoke to me anonymously, “I was told to send home fliers for the Good News Club and for the Satanic Club, but I didn’t 😅🫠”
We’ll leave it there, folks!
If you’re interested in discussing this topic — or other local issues — I invite you to join me and fellow Local Hero readers at the Ojai Valley Brewery on Monday evening! Details are below.
I plan to issue my next report report prior to the Feb. 19th Planning Commission meeting.
These individuals did not want to be identified publicly due to concern about their child’s safety. Readers who want to discuss my decision to keep them anonymous are welcome to talk to me in the comments or via email.
CEF also provides curriculum and training for volunteers.
CEF of Ventura County Director Olu Adefop said, “we’ve been advised to not engage with the press at this time.”