DeSantis signs school chaplains bill opposed by pastors, Satanists, ACLU

“But there is no need to seek volunteer chaplains, if the funding needs for guidance and counseling and mental health support were met,” he said.

The pastors’ group includes most “mainline denominations” in Florida and does not want chaplains trained by its churches to take part in the program, Golden said. He said the group fears that new school chaplains will be a vehicle to inappropriately introduce religion into schools.

“The governor of the entire state of Florida has now signed a bill that really is intrusive beyond belief into the area of constitutionally protected rights with respect to freedom of religion and the establishment of religion,” he said.

An organization called the Satanic Temple issued a recent statement that said its ministers “look forward” to joining chaplains of other religions in schools. The Temple states its mission is to use Satanic imagery to “oppose injustice,” including applying for equal representation when religious imagery and “proselytizing” are allowed in public schools.

DeSantis contended that the organization would not be allowed to participate.

“Now, some have said that if you do a school chaplain program, that somehow you’re going to have Satanists running around in our schools,” DeSantis said. “We’re not playing those games in Florida. That is not a religion, that is not qualified to be able to participate in this. So we’re going to be using common sense when it comes to this.”

Lucien Greaves, co-founder of the Temple, said via email on Thursday that “DeSantis’s ignorant and irresponsible words actually hold no authority in this instance.”

“He is not at liberty to amend the Constitution by fiat, and we are a federally recognized religious organization,” Greaves said in an email. “There is nothing on paper that excludes The Satanic Temple from offering chaplains in public schools, and to do so would be illegal. DeSantis does not even bother to offer a legal theory by which we would be excluded.”

The governor, Greaves said, is “sending a confusing message to school districts which will then suffer the consequences in court.”

DeSantis also signed another bill allowing schools to bring in what the measure called “patriotic organizations.”

The groups permitted to visit campuses are the Big Brothers-Big Sisters, Boy Scouts, Boys & Girls Clubs, Civil Air Patrol, Future Farmers of America, Girl Scouts, Little League Baseball, the Marine Corps League and the Naval Sea Cadet Corps.

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