Alissa Zhu

DZHU@NEWS-LEADER.COM

Springfield Councilwoman Kristi Fulnecky said her phone started blowing up Tuesday afternoon — with hundreds of Twitter notifications from Satanists.

Satanism sympathizers were firing back at Fulnecky who, during Monday night's council meeting, referred to Satanists as a "hate group."

Fulnecky was talking about, in particular, the Satanic Temple, an organization that asked Springfield Public Schools to use an elementary school building to host an "After School Satan Club."

Earlier this month the Satanic Temple offered to present After School Satan Club at a number of school districts around the country — targeting schools that allegedly host Good News Clubs.

Basically, the Satanic Temple's point is that if an evangelical Christian organization is allowed to use public school facilities, other religions should have that right too.

On Monday, Fulnecky asked city staff to gather information about the After School Satan Club request.

"I know it's concerning to a lot of parents because parents don't want hate groups in the schools, so I would just like to respond to my constituents," Fulnecky said at the council meeting.

Fulnecky's comments were tweeted out by the News-Leader and retweeted by Fulnecky herself.

They caught the attention of a Twitter user who identifies himself as Lucien Greaves, co-founder of and spokesman for the Satanic Temple.

Responding to Fulnecky's characterization, Greaves said calling the Satanic Temple a hate group was "deplorable, unprofessional, completely untrue and out of line."

Greaves told the News-Leader that the Salem, Massachusetts-based Satanic Temple is an organization that fights for religious liberty.

"No one voice enjoys exclusive preference, it doesn't matter if it's Christian, Jewish, Muslim or Satanist. When you open up a public forum you have to let all voices in or it's not free speech," Greaves said.

Greaves' comments were part of an onslaught of responses from Satanic Temple supporters online.

A Twitter account called Amor De Cosmos sarcastically tweeted about the Satanic Temple, "Of course a group that focuses on free inquiry and rationalism is a hate group!"

Someone else named Lucifer chimed in, "Nothing about this organization is hateful by any means."

Others on Twitter directed profane insults toward Fulnecky.

"I received a lot of hateful messages from these groups from other towns," Fulnecky told the News-Leader. "I don't think that we need taxpayer dollars promoting Satanic clubs in our Springfield schools."

Fulnecky said she believes most of the responses were from people living in other cities like St. Louis, New York and Boston.

Fulnecky tweeted out, "I hold the first amendment sacred but nowhere does it say that taxpayers have to subsidize someone else's free speech."

Fulnecky said she stands by her decision to call the Satanic Temple a hate group.

"It kind of proved my point that these groups do espouse hate and have historically taught hate, and so it just confirms what I thought," Fulnecky said.

Since school clubs are a school district issue, Fulnecky said, she's not sure if there's anything she can do as a council member.

At Tuesday's council lunch meeting, City Manager Greg Burris said the city is requesting information from Springfield Public Schools about the After School Satan Club.

According to the Satanic Temple's website, the organization's mission is to "encourage benevolence and empathy among all people, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense and justice, and be directed by the human conscience to undertake noble pursuits guided by the individual will."

After School Satan Club

Earlier this month, Springfield Public Schools received a request from the Satanic Temple of St. Louis to use an elementary school building to host its After School Satan Club.

In a letter sent Aug. 9 responding to the Satanic Temple of St. Louis, Superintendent John Jungmann does not deny the request.

The letter provides links to related board policies governing facility usage and states the district's approach to those types of requests.

The Satanic Temple has offered to present After School Satan Club at school districts in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Pensacola, Portland, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Tucson and Washington, D.C.

On After School Satan Club's website, Satanic Temple spokesman Greaves said, "All of the districts we’ve approached are nearby to local chapters of The Satanic Temple, and each school district has hosted, or is now hosting, Good News Clubs in their schools."

Good News Club is a ministry of the Child Evangelism Fellowship based in Warrenton.

After School Satan Club's website said the clubs are for parents "concerned about encroachments by proselytizing evangelicals in their public schools," who want to establish the "presence of a contrasting voice that helps children to understand that one doesn’t need to submit to superstition in order to be a good person."

Greaves said, "After School Satan Clubs will focus on free inquiry and rationalism, the scientific basis for which we know what we know about the world around us. We prefer to give children an appreciation of the natural wonders surrounding them, not a fear of everlasting other-worldly horrors."

The requested Springfield location is listed as Watkins Elementary.