The Satanic Temple wants to provide chaplains in schools under proposed bill. Lawmakers say it doesn't qualify

It may be cliche to say the devil is in the details, but it's a fair assessment when it comes to a chaplains bill making its way through the Oklahoma Legislature.

Authored by Sen. Nathan Dahm, R-Broken Arrow, with Rep. Kevin West, R-Moore, as its House sponsor, the bill would authorize public school districts to welcome faith-based chaplains as hired staff or as volunteers to provide support, services and programs for students and staff.

Representatives of The Satanic Temple said they plan to make their chaplains available to public schools across the state should SB 36 become law, but West and a national school chaplains group say the organization doesn't meet the measure's requirements. The bill was approved by the House in April and must now be considered by the Senate.

West and Johnny Davis, chief development officer for the Norman-based National School Chaplains Association, said they have both heard from Oklahomans who are concerned that The Satanic Temple's Ministers of Satan could potentially become school chaplains.

But, West said proof that this scenario is unlikely is in the details of the bill.

More: Controversial bill allowing chaplains in Oklahoma's public schools advances

He said the bill outlines requirements for chaplains that were modeled after standards for U.S. military chaplains, specifically: Chaplains must obtain a federally recognized ecclesiastical endorsement from their denomination or faith group for employment or volunteer service, certifying that the chaplain is a minister, rabbi, priest, imam, lay leader or similar functionary of the faith group.

The legislator said The Satanic Temple does not have a federally recognized endorsement and therefore does not meet requirements to send its chaplains into Oklahoma schools.

He said SB 36, when compared to other chaplains bills being considered across the country or even those that already have been passed into law, has strong language because it has specific, rather than vague requirements.

Also under the bill, public school chaplains must be qualified morally, intellectually and emotionally to serve as a chaplain; be sensitive to religious pluralism and be able to provide for the free exercise of religion by all students. Chaplains would be required to have completed or possess a bachelor's degree, completing 120 semester hours, a graduate degree in theological or religious studies, and at least 72 hours in graduate work. Both degrees are required to be from accredited universities. And the bill states that chaplains are prohibited from proselytizing.

West said there are about 10,000 chaplains in the U.S. Armed Forces, and none of them are endorsed by The Satanic Temple. Davis, with the National School Chaplains Association, shared similar comments, saying Satanic Temple representatives are more concerned with threatening to insert themselves into school life rather than helping schools and students.

"It will 100% be up to each school board if they want to participate or they don't," West said. "They will be able to set the job description and then they can make the determination if they want to be a volunteer or a hired position."

Lucien Greaves, one of the founders of The Satanic Temple, countered that the National School Chaplains Association is more concerned with selling chaplain certificates than providing adequate support for students. He said he was frustrated that local leaders have not been truthful about his organization's eligibility to take part in the chaplains program outlined in SB 36. He said satanism was officially recognized by the U.S. government when it was included in its Department of the Army Manual for Chaplains.

Greaves said The Satanic Temple is a nontheistic religious organization that emphasizes their affirmative values and ethical framework. He said the organization's detractors view nontheism as a challenge to their own religious status.

No replacing school counselors with chaplains

Addressing Davis' assertion that The Satanic Temple is not concerned with aiding schools, Greaves said it is Davis' organization that is not seriously interested in helping schools because chaplains who lack training and experience in the public school arena will undermine the credible work already being done there.

West said he is aware that SB 36 is being criticized as an effort to replace school counselors with faith-based chaplains.

But, West said that is not the measure's intent.

"Chaplains are specifically trained to do certain things and there's a lot of crossover between what a counselor does and what a chaplain does, but they're not necessarily trained in those same areas," he said.

The legislator said he envisioned participating school districts having chaplains work in conjunction with counselors, becoming more like support for the existing counselors.

More opposition to chaplain bill comes forward

In addition to The Satanic Temple, other organizations voicing opposition to SB 36 include the Oklahoma Faith Network and ACLU-Oklahoma.

Recently, the Oklahoma Parent Legislative Advocacy Coalition added its name to the list of groups against the bill. The group is a statewide umbrella organization for a dozen local Parent Legislative Advocacy Coalitions across the state.

Sherri Brown, legislative chair of OKPLAC, said the organization's mission is to engage communities in advocacy for policies that support and strengthen Oklahoma public schools, and the chaplain bill is not one of them.

In an email, she outlined her group's main concerns, including the belief that the bill constitutes the state obstructing or interfering with the parental right to direct the moral or religious training of a minor child ― a right that is provided in Oklahoma statutes. Brown said that although SB 36 does allow for a parent to opt out of the chaplain program, "this does not cure the issue."

"Many parents will be unaware that their child is in contact with a chaplain and may not know that there is an opt out path," she said. "At the very least, this should be an opt in."

She said her organization also thinks the bill is a threat to the religious liberty of Oklahoma residents. Brown said the families of Oklahoma public school students are diverse in their faith practices or may have no faith tradition.

"Even though the bill prohibits proselytizing, it would be naive to believe that this will not happen," she said. "In reality, that is the reason the nationwide push for chaplains in public schools exists. It seems that the strategy is to leverage the existing school system and government funding to teach Christianity to children."

Brown also said her organization thinks schools will be leaving themselves open to a variety of legal liabilities should SB 36 become law. She asked: If they accept Protestant Christian chaplains, will they also accept Catholic priests, Muslim imams or Jewish rabbis ... and if they don't, will they be charged with violating the Establishment Clause?

Finally, Brown said instead of involving law enforcement as the law requires, church leaders often seem to handle sexual predators internally. Because of this, she said mandated background checks may not catch a chaplain that has demonstrated predator behavior in the past.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Lawmaker says Satanic Temple can't provide chaplains under OK bill