The Sequoia Satanist Club has been a controversial new club on campus due to the Satanic imagery of the club. On the other side of this imagery is the Youth for Christ Club.

“We saw the Youth for Christ posters and thought that’s really cool to have a religious club at school,” senior Eva Smith said.

The club made it very clear that they do not participate in Satanic worship, but rather focus on values such as women’s rights and inclusion.

“[Satanism] is a religion, but it is much more of a political activism group,” Smith said. 

Another value of the club is inclusion and acceptance.

“We wanted to be able to create an environment that was welcoming of all religions,” Smith said.

The club bases itself on the Satanic Temple. The Satanic Temple lists their mission statement on their website as, “The mission of the Satanic Temple is to encourage benevolence and empathy, reject tyrannical authority, advocate for practical common sense, oppose injustice and undertake noble pursuits.”

A main purpose of the temple is to provide abortions to women in states where it is banned. “The Satanic Temple is utilizing RFRA (Religious Freedom Restoration Act) and the First Amendment to protect access to abortion and contraception,” according to the Satanic Temple.

Another club on campus, the Youth for Christ club has opposing imagery to the Satanism club.

A message of freedom was present in the Youth for Christ club as well.

“Our club’s goals are pretty simple, just to show people that there is a God and it’s what we believe in, and then just allowing people to make that decision for themselves if they decide to believe and to follow,” Youth for Christ Club founder Mathew Ruiz said.

For the Youth for Christ advisor, his relationship with faith has been an adventure. 

“My own relationship with faith has has changed throughout the years but I having a growing appreciation as I get older and as I start teaching my daughter about life and what it means to live an ethical way in this world,” Math teacher Anthony Relator said.

Ruiz enjoys many facets of the club. 

“My favorite part is just getting to meet new people. And seeing how different cultures, maybe even different religions come together,” Ruiz said. 

Ruiz’s perspective on the Satanist club and their relation with faith. 

“Our belief is that there’s a God and that there is a devil. So the Satanic Club might relate more with the devil, but at the same time, it’s kind of to show, there is a God,” Ruiz said.

The Satanist club argues against this point as they claim that Satanism is not about worship to a god.

“Satanism is a what’s called a non-theistic religion, which means it doesn’t actually believe in a higher power or anything. Satanism doesn’t actually believe in Satan,” Smith said.

Whilst both clubs seem to have contradicting imagery, they both focus on inclusiveness and acceptance.

“You don’t have to believe in a religion to join, you can just be impassioned by wanting to develop religious equality or wanting to make your community better,” Smith said.

This message of inclusiveness is echoed by the Youth for Christ Club.

“You can come, we don’t exclude people, even if you’re not not religious,” Ruiz said.