Today we looked for sponsors. Even the teachers that would support us feel like they will be ostracized by the rest of the staff, or get in trouble with the office. Some are worried about rumors. At this point it seems rather impossible for our club to continue. So we're probably gonna put it on stand-by. Once all of the drama blows over, we might be able to get a sponsor under the Latin name, but social pressures are preventing most people from supporting us. But hopefully it wont be for nothing. We hope to show that opposing beliefs are a good thing.
In other news, our Instagram page has blown up with hundreds of comments. I've made some inspirational Satanic quotes for it.
To address some concerns about the name: The English Translation will be used in meetings, on social media, and in general conversation. The Latin translation will be used for flyers and announcements to avoid sparking extreme outrage as we have seen before. The English Translation may or may not be used with it.
We also launched our new official Instagram account. It lit up immediately, getting over 100 comments within a few hours on the first post! A hilarious response of angry Christians flooded the comments. I heard a rumor that one notorious Fundamentalist was going to show the office our Instagram, so I immediately deleted any part we had in the argument, so it was just us getting flamed. Though we debated we still remained civil, knowing the school administration would look at it. We we're called down to the office almost instantly, who told us that we could not be using Instagram in class, and that it was a distraction from our work. We we're also distracting the involved students. They were clearly looking for excuses. We explained to them that we ONLY used Instagram at lunch, and did not reference any other students in our posts. Seeming to accept this, they told us to be careful with how we used it, and sent us out.
Near the end of the day we were both called down for a meeting with the Head of Activities. He explained to us that we had enough students involved to form a Student Group, but there were a few more steps. We needed a teacher to sponsor us, supervising meetings, and we also need a written constitution explaining how our group would operate even if all current members graduated. He gave us some tips, saying that most students who say they are 'interested' usually don't actually show up to meetings, and to make sure we are making a group out of passion, not frustration. A group needs to have at least 10 students and meet at least 4 times a year, so I think we will go for the bare minimum on meetings. It's more of a statement that a community activity. Obviously the current hurdle is getting that sponsor, but I think it will definitely be possible it we tell them that 1. We will only be meeting once every 3 months, 2. Our official group name is in Latin, and 3. We will bring whatever type of food they want. We thanked him, and left. It's happening!
I didn't get to talk to the principal today (apparently I got ANOTHER meeting scheduled over some of the threats we've received) but I did speak with sponsors. We explained that it's a sort of satire/free-speech thing, and a few seemed rather supportive. The one issue they had with it was the name. Nobody wanted to be listed as the sponsor for 'Spartans for Satan', and the name immediately made people angry. We didn't want to truly change it, because it would be a sort-of corruption of what the club represents. So we changed it to Latin. Spartstar fish Enim Diabolis! SFS will remain our official acronym, however. We couldn't get a perfect translation so it actually means 'People of Sparta who support the Diabolical One (Satan)', which is the closest we could get.
This morning my mother and I spoke with the counselor about the club, under the guise of concerns over my grades (I have a 3.66 GPA lol). She seems to want a reaction from one of us, but she didn't get it. The counselor told her that I had been distractingly passing out fliers in a class, which sparked immediate outrage from both of us (she knew the real story). She apologized and said that she was only saying what she had been told, and just reminded me that my student group has to be made in the same format as the others. It was clear that they were just tying to stop us from expressing controversial opinions, but even the principal seemed to accept that I had done nothing wrong. She also pulled up an IQ test I took a few years back. I don't know why.
At lunch I followed a group of students to Spartans for Christ. Myself and my co-founder sat together in the very front row, as the group greeted us. A few people seemed to recognize us as the founders, but most didn't, including the group leader. They invited in a priest from a local church, who had offered to speak to the students. He passed out burritos. They were vegetarian, so I indulged, despite my cohort's comments of "Don't eat it! They cooked it in holy water!" The priest introduced himself in a very fellow-kids manner, talking about his 'smoking hot wife' and love of social media. He then explained what the day's lesson would be about. They were going to discuss a new controversial group in the school, "Spartans for Satan." Of course they were.
Finally breaking from my eye-contact conversation with the co-founder, we looked up at the priest. He began talking about how not everyone will agree with you in life, and even Jesus stirred a lot of negative opinions. People mocked him. Threw him out of town. Crucified him. They actually compared starting a student group to murdering the son of God. The priest asked me my name, and then a question. He clearly didn't recognize us. After forcing me to explain what a Christian was, he moved on to other students. He explained that Jesus loved all people, even those who hurt them, and that this was how we needed to deal with Spartans for Satan. Jesus didn't fight with threats or violence, he fought with love. I suppose it's better than calling for violence against our group, and certainly reinforced the messages of the Bible better. Eventually, the entire group decided to bow their heads in prayer for us, and other students with differing opinions. The burrito crate made it's way to the table in front of me, with almost a dozen spare. Did I dare? As the students prayed, I picked out another burrito. I'm sure they wouldn't mind letting me have another, but I didn't really want to ask. We almost burst out laughing--using their prayers for us to sneak more burritos. We considered telling the priest that we were the club founders, but decided against it. Once the group was released, we erupted with laughter outside. This is going down as one of the most uncomfortable events in history. They were very nice, but something about hearing how people are going to smother you with love, not knowing you are among them, is just a little awkward. Great student group.
On the way to third hour, a student wanted to sign up for SFS. So he quickly signed the paper near the door to my third hour. The teacher inquisitively asked what he was signing, but not wishing to talk to this teacher about the group, I just gave a meaningless answer, "Just a thing." Later that hour, a girl approached and said that she had been ill Friday. She asked me if she could have one of the fliers. The school had told me that I couldn't distribute anything unless I was registered, but this was different. She was ASKING me for one, and it was a private transfer. I handed it to her, and the teacher swooped in. He tore it from her clutches, ripped it to pieces, and yelled that I was not to distribute those fliers. It was as if he was practicing for this moment--he wanted to send me to the office. So he asked how many I had, and I told him the truth (about 40). He asked to see them, and I said no, in a polite-ish fashion "Oh... they're in my bag..." because I didn't want him destroying any more of them. He told me to go down to the office.
At the office, I met with the Head of Discipline. He asked what the problem was, and I said that my teacher massively overreacted based on personal opinion. He read the flier aloud in a monotone voice, seeming rather amused by it. He then told me that I wasn't supposed to distribute fliers, and I explained that it was a private transfer, and that she had asked me for them. I compared it to a birthday party invitation, and he looked rather stumped. He said I would be called back to the office after they checked the rules. I ended up spending the rest of class in the office, with a spartan head looming over me. They also called in my co-founder, and told her about the situation. She wasn't even involved. I was called back near the end of the day, and met with the principal. She told me that while I WAS allowed to distribute a flyer in a personal transaction when a student asks for one, I couldn't do it in class. Because it was a distraction--and class was for learning. They really fell back on 'It's a distraction!' to justify rash teacher action. I asked if I could do it in the hallways, and she said that even that was likely to bleed over into the next teacher's class, but if I was sure it wouldn't I could. She said she would meet with me again, tomorrow. It's ridiculous to send students to the office four times because they 'distracted' another student who asked them a question for 20 seconds. It's obvious discrimination, and they are trying to justify it. My mother--a lawyer--is coming to the school tomorrow for a meeting. She's very upset with the way this has been handled.
I didn't get stabbed.
So people are still talking about it, though in a more calm manner. Several people politely questioned me about it as I entered the building. I asked my first hour teacher if he recalled telling everyone to sit down when they were swarming us. He seemed to think it was funny, and said that he only told them to sit down because he felt like a fight was going to break out. When I said we needed a sponsor, he legitimately seemed to consider it, but decided against it. On the way to my second hour, a guy screamed 'YOU GUYS HAVE NO LIFE!' to which I responded 'SATAN IS MY LIFE!'. Second hour teacher seemed really upset about the whole thing, as he is pretty religious. In fourth hour. the teacher asked to speak with me in the hall about my group. It's worth noting that I once carried a box of old framed Bible quotes from her house for her, so she's probably religious. She said that a lot of people were upset because religion is very important to them, and moreso because they were worried about us making a Satanic display at the Pep Rally, perhaps invalidating our chances of winning a school spirit contest. Don't worry--we won.
Several students asked to sign up in the halls, and we had to get a larger form. It's turning into a sort of atheist-joke. At lunch our table was relatively clear, although several people visited and asked us about the group. We explained it to them, saying that anyone could enter. A few even signed up. Fifth hour (Journalism) thought it was hilarious and were really surprised to know I was involved, with the exception of the teacher. I hadn't attended 5th hour Friday because of the threats. More people signed up. I quickly realized that there was legitimate interest in this club, and stopped treating it entirely as a one-time joke. We asked the sixth hour teacher if she wanted to sponsor us, as a joke, knowing she was deeply conservative and religious. She explained her moral and religious objections to the group.
I ended the day with more than 20 people signed up for the club, and some teachers considering sponsoring us. I received several supporting emails, including one from a professional graphic designer who was inspired by our story and made us a badass logo. This could be a thing! It's not about Satan anymore... it's sort of a free-speech thing. I want to get the nonreligious crowd lunch meetings at the same time as Spartans for Christ just to say that we DID that. I want a club to ourselves just to say 'holy crap, we started a Students for Satan club in our Highschool. We did that".
Today the support vastly overwhelmed the anger. I'm definitely gonna pursue this club.
Some of you might have caught my 'Zealot disrupts a pep rally' topic. It got far worse than I ever could've imagined.
So it's 10:00 PM last night, and I get a text from a good friend of mine. She wants to make fliers for a Students-For-Satan club and pass them out at the pep rally, causing mayhem. I think it sounds pretty funny, so I agree to help. Our school mascot is the Spartan, and the most popular student group is 'Spartans for Christ', so we decide to form 'Spartans for Satan'. I
quickly put together a pretty sinister logo,
and she writes up a flier.
Together we printed off 120 copies of the Satanic recruitment tool.The next morning, everyone is shuffled into the cafeteria before they release us to our classes. We take the opportunity to announce our new student club, and begin passing out the fliers. Some people look shocked, some laugh, some look angry. One guy approached me as we we're leaving and said 'I'm gonna kill you!'. Overall, it went rather as planned. Once we stopped passing them out, several people came to our table, and asked if this was a real club. We said yes, and that anyone could join. In the corner of my eye, I spotted my first hour teacher taking pictures of our fliers.
I walk to first hour, and EVERYONE is talking about it. Everywhere I go I hear 'Spartans for Satan'. Strangely, a lot of them didn't seem to know who it was that started it. Perhaps they overlooked the names, or only heard it second hand. My teacher asks the class to 'please not share this 'Spartans for Satan crap Online' but doesn't seem to realize I'm involved. The phone rings, and he tells me to go to the counselor's office. I arrive, and my friend is already there. The counselor says that she called up because our names were on the flier. She remains totally serious, acting as though we we're a baking club or something, and tell us that we can't pass out fliers until we are registered with the school. She tell us how to do it. We thank her and leave.
It doesn't die down in my next few classes, and I am surrounded by people asking 'wait are you involved with Spartans for Satan?'. Someone tells me they will plant a bomb in the Spartans for Satan Meeting Room (we don't have one) and kill us all. I donate some money to a fundraiser and announce that 'Satan cares'. I leave for lunch, but rather skip and visit the library. I buy several blank banners (our library sells them) to use at the pep rally, unrelated to Satan. We we're going to write things like 'GO SPARTANS!' on them and pass them around. I arrive back in the cafeteria, and gasp.
Half the cafeteria is surrounding the table where I usually sit (near my friends) and they are asking about Spartans For Christ. As I sit someone screams 'I TOLD THE PRINCIPAL ABOUT THIS, AND MY PARENTS ARE NOT HAPPY!' and another remarks that 'THE PRINCIPAL IS GOING TO WATCH YOU GUYS AT THE RALLY, AND IF YOU START CHANTING 'DEATH TO AMERICA', YOU'LL GET SUSPENDED!' We weren't planning to chant 'death-to-America' so this seemed rather odd. As I set down the banners they yell 'WHAT IS THIS?' 'NO NO NO YOU ARE NOT WAVING THIS AT THE PEP RALLY!'. They seemed to think we were going to draw pentagrams and stuff on them. We can barely work on the real banners because so many people are surrounding us (around 40) and finally a teacher walks over and yells for everyone to sit down. He tells us not to write anything offensive on the banners, and we say that we wont.
I got a pretty crappy photo of the swarm, sorry I couldn't get a better one. The momentary relief doesn't last, as people begin surrounding our table again. We evacuate the cafeteria, not even able to eat.
Before I can get on my bus to the Pep Rally, the counselor grabs me. She tells me to go to the principal. I walk into her office, right as she gets off the phone with someone (presumably a parent). She tells me that her entire morning has been answering phone calls from angry parents, wondering what active satanists are doing at the school. She is seriously worried that we are going to get attacked (very likely at this rate) and sends several teachers to escort us to the pep rally. They surround us while inside. As I raised our banners, literally everyone looked up and started yelling, before seeing it was 'GO SPARTANS!' or something like that. Rumors of Spartans for Satan continue to spread throughout the assembly, and
a group of Spartans for Christ kids literally throw a bag of invitation cards on us. The pep rally ends, and we are escorted to my last class of the day. A group of kids from the 5th hour stayed behind to interrogate us about Spartans for Satan. The teacher asks me if my parents are satanists. Some people literally bring speakers and start playing Christian music on max volume.
As I head for the bus, the school is ANGRY. I continue to hear the words echoed throughout the hall, and social media is blowing up. An email we attached to the fliers is filling up with pissed parents. I get on the bus, and take the first seat next to the driver. Everyone asks us about SFS as they get on,
and began throwing highly artistic balls of paper at us, while screaming things like 'SATAN SUCKS!'. As they got off, everyone made a remark about it. One guy fist-bumped me and whispered
'anyone can change, man.' I finally get home, and I'm so exhausted that I sleep for almost 4 hours.
So that was what I did today. I didn't even orchestrate this--yet it seems I am the figurehead of it. Oops.
