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'Satanic Temple' members want to volunteer in Florida schools, but governor's office says it won't happen
Satanists are ready to volunteer in Florida’s schools in response to Governor Ron DeSantis’s push to integrate more religion into the state’s public school system under a volunteer school chaplain program that went into effect last week.
Members of The Satanic Temple (TST) say they are ready to serve as “volunteer chaplains” under a new Florida law that took effect July 1, allowing volunteer school chaplains “to provide support, services, and programs to students,” The Guardian reported.
Lucien Greaves, TST co-founder and spokesperson, told Fox News Digital that should a Florida school district seize on the opportunity to introduce a chaplaincy program into their schools, TST “will be happy to participate.”
Lucien Greaves, a co-founder and spokesman for the Satanic Temple, told Fox News Digital that the group started the after-school program as an alternative to other religious groups that were “proselytizing” to children. (Josh Reynolds for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“When passing the school chaplain bill into law, Florida’s bloviating incompetent Culture War-obsessed governor, Ron DeSantis openly lied to the public and stated that Satanic chaplains would not be allowed,” he told Fox News Digital. “In the depths of his ignorance, he fails to recognize a basic and fundamental constitutional truism: it is no place of the government to dictate that some religions have certain rights over others.”
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After DeSantis signed the law in April, Greaves challenged him to a debate on religious freedom after the governor said satanists specifically would not be allowed to participate under the law as it is his belief it is “not a religion.” But the group argued it would be, as it is recognized as a church by the IRS.
“Some have said that if you do a school chaplain program, that, somehow, you’re going to have satanists running around in all our schools. We’re not playing those games in Florida,” DeSantis assured the crowd. “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. You don’t have to worry about it.”
In response, Greaves told Fox News Digital that the statement shows DeSantis is “speaking from complete ignorance and/or incompetence.”
“We are recognized as a 501(c)3 tax-exempt church, and our religious status was again affirmed by a federal judge in 2020,” he said. “What DeSantis did in proclaiming that we are not a religion was to simply misinform school districts that, if they take him seriously and attempt to abridge our religious freedom, risk opening themselves to legal liability at significant cost.”
“I suspect DeSantis did not care whether what he says from the podium, as long as it sounds good in the moment, and he’s gambling that people will forget it a week later. It will be our job to remind them when Satanic chaplains are in the schools,” he added.
HB 931 requires district school boards and charter school governing boards to assign specified duties to volunteer school chaplains to provide support services and programs for students, Fox News Digital previously reported.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said satanists would not be able to participate in a new State chaplain program being offered to schools, and now Lucien Greaves, co-founder of The Satanic Temple, is challenging him to a debate on religious freedoms. (Getty Images)
Principals of schools with volunteer school chaplains must inform parents of the services and would be required to publish a list of the chaplains on its website. In addition, school districts would require volunteer school chaplains to meet certain background screenings and have written parental consent before students participate or receive the services.
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But, the law largely leaves it up to schools and school districts to determine how chaplain programs are implemented and only requires schools to list a volunteer’s religion, “if any.” DeSantis’ office has stated the goal of the bill is to make resources available, such as counseling from faith leaders for students who may be facing challenges.
“You’re basically saying that God has no place [on campus]. That’s wrong,” DeSantis said of the bill’s signing in April.
When news of TST’s intentions first broke in February, DeSantis Communications Director Bryan Griffin’s response was: “HELL: NO.”
But critics of the bill see it as an overreach of the separation of church and state and TST has threatened to sue the state of Florida if any of its members were banned from serving as chaplains in the program.
Lucien Greaves, spokesman for The Satanic Temple, with a statue of Baphomet at the group’s meeting house in Salem, MA. (Getty Images)
Greaves previously told Fox News Digital the governor has made multiple comments about the organization without any knowledge of who its members are and what they believe. He said the legislation indicates DeSantis is unaware of how the law works and that the bill he signed into law “does in fact allow Satanic chaplains in schools.”
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Despite its name, TST does not believe in the existence of Satan or the supernatural, according to its website. It is non-theistic; in its Frequently Asked Questions of its website, it explicitly says it does not worship Satan.
“The Satanic Temple believes that religion can, and should, be divorced from superstition. As such, we do not promote a belief in a personal Satan,” the website states. “Satan is a symbol of the Eternal Rebel in opposition to arbitrary authority, forever defending personal sovereignty even in the face of insurmountable odds.”
“Satanists should actively work to hone critical thinking and exercise reasonable agnosticism in all things,” it also says on the site. “Our beliefs must be malleable to the best current scientific understandings of the material world — never the reverse.”
“After School Satan Clubs” hosted by TST, have cropped up at schools around the country in recent years, including in states like Tennessee, Virginia, Pennsylvania and California. Greaves has described the kind of activities that the after-school program facilitates, as a self-directed learning process that includes games, solving puzzles and activities, but the program has been met with widespread pushback from parents.
Fox News’ Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
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President Donald Trump is asking the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to reimburse him more than $6.2 million in attorney fees and costs in the wake of the recently dismissed 2020 election interference case she brought against him.
The development comes after Willis was permanently sidelined from prosecuting the case against Trump last September. She had lost an appeal after the Georgia Court of Appeals said Willis and her office could not continue to prosecute the case, citing an “appearance of impropriety” stemming from her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. The case was then dismissed in November.
Georgia state legislators last year passed a law that says that if a prosecutor is disqualified from a case because of his or her own improper conduct and the case is then dismissed, anyone charged in that case is entitled to request “all reasonable attorney’s fees and costs incurred” in their defense. The judge overseeing the case then is responsible for reviewing the request and awarding the fees and costs, which are to be paid from the budget of the prosecutor’s office.
“In accordance with Georgia law, President Trump has moved the Court to award reasonable attorney fees and costs incurred in his defense of the politically motivated, and now rightfully dismissed, case brought by disqualified DA Fani Willis,” Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in Georgia, said in a statement.
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President Donald Trump and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Alex Slitz-Pool/Getty Images)
A motion filed Wednesday said, “President Trump prays that this Court award attorney fees and costs for the defense of President Trump in the amount of $6,261,613,08.”
Willis’ indictment had accused Trump of pressuring officials to overturn the 2020 vote in Georgia, organizing “fake electors” and harassing election workers.
A Fulton County grand jury indicted Trump and 18 others in August 2023, and Trump surrendered at the Fulton County Jail on Aug. 24.
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Special prosecutor Nathan Wade and Fani Willis, the district attorney for Fulton County (Getty Images)
Last month, when another person charged in the case made a similar filing, Willis’ office filed a motion asking to be heard on the matter of any claims for fees and costs filed in the case, according to The Associated Press.
Willis’ motion raised concerns about the law passed last year that allowed Trump and others to seek to have their expenses paid.
“The statute raises grave separation-of-powers concerns by purporting to impose financial liability on a constitutional officer, twice elected by the citizens of Fulton County, for the lawful exercise of her core duties under the Georgia Constitution,” her motion said.
Donald Trump’s booking photo provided by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office after he surrendered on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election. (Fulton County Sheriff’s Office via AP)
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Her motion also added that the law violates due process by “retroactively imposing a novel fee-shifting scheme” that creates a substantial burden for the county’s taxpayers without any recourse.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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The third time won’t be the charm for Stacey Abrams, at least in 2026.
The two-time Democratic gubernatorial nominee in battleground Georgia is ruling out another run for governor this year, saying that instead she’ll focus on her work fighting what she warns is the nation’s move toward authoritarianism under President Donald Trump.
“Americans are in pain but they are ready to act, and now is the moment to reconnect to what is at stake and what is possible,” Abrams said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s clear to me that the most effective way I can serve right now is by continuing to do this important work. For that reason, I will not seek elected office in 2026.”
Abrams, a former Democratic Party leader in the Georgia state legislature and a nationally known voting-rights advocate, narrowly lost to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in the 2018 gubernatorial election. She lost her 2022 rematch with Kemp by nearly eight points.
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Stacey Abrams, seen here at Georgia State University on Nov. 7, 2022, in Atlanta, Georgia, will not run for governor in 2026. (Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)
Sources confirmed to Fox News Digital last spring that Abrams was mulling a third straight run for governor in the race to succeed the now-term-limited Kemp.
Abrams grabbed plenty of national attention during the 2018 Georgia race, and came close to making history as the nation’s first Black female elected governor. Her refusal to concede to Kemp after losing by a razor-thin margin boosted her among many Democrats while becoming a top GOP political target.
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She launched the Fair Fight political organization following her defeat, helped Biden narrowly carry Georgia in the 2020 presidential election, and also contributed to the sweep by the Democrats in the Jan. 5, 2021 twin Senate runoff elections.
Abrams raised over $110 million in fundraising for her 2022 rematch with Kemp, but was soundly defeated by the Republican incumbent.
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, seen speaking with Fox News Digital during his 2022 re-election campaign, is term-limited and cannot run for re-election in 2026. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
In recent years, the political machine Abrams built has faded. The Abrams-founded New Georgia Project folded last year after being fined $300,000 for illegally backing her 2018 campaign.
And while Abrams last year considered a 2026 gubernatorial run, other Democratic candidates jumped into the race.
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who served as director of the White House Office of Public Engagement during former President Joe Biden’s administration, is widely seen as the front-runner for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
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Also running for the Democratic nomination is former Lieutenant Gov. Geoff Duncan, who was elected in 2018 but declined to seek re-election in 2022. The former Republican is now a moderate Democrat. Former state Rep. Ruwa Romman and former Dekalb County CEO Michael Thurmond are also in the race.
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who served in then-President Joe Biden’s administration, is running for the 2026 Democratic nomination for governor in Georgia. (Getty Images)
In the race for the Republican nomination, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones has the backing of President Donald Trump.
The field also includes Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
The Cook Report, a leading non-partisan political handicapper, rates the race a toss-up, while Inside Elections rates it as tilt Republican and Sabato’s Crystal Ball rates it as lean Republican.
Abrams, in her statement to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, said she’ll keep her focus on the fight to protect democracy.
“The antidote to authoritarianism and its harms has always been democracy; and I have long believed that democracy requires active engagement and staunch defenders,” she wrote.”But democracy is experienced by the vast majority through the work of government — when it fails, we are all imperiled.”
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A Florida man is behind bars after allegedly killing a woman and leaving her body on a popular beach the day after Christmas.
Brandon Ward McCray, 28, was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals and Hollywood Police Department on Dec. 30, 2025 and charged with sexual battery, kidnapping, battery and battery by strangulation, according to police records obtained by Fox News Digital.
Authorities responded to a call regarding a body on the sand of Hollywood Beach – located approximately 15 miles from Fort Lauderdale Beach – at around 7 a.m. on the morning of Dec. 26, 2025, according to WPLG. The victim, later identified as 56-year-old Heather Asendorf, was pronounced dead at the scene.
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Brandon Ward McCray is charged with sexual battery, kidnapping, battery and battery by strangulation in Broward County, Florida, according to police records obtained by Fox News Digital. (Broward County Sheriff’s Office)
Witnesses later told NBC Miami the body was wrapped in a white blanket and had blood trailing from the remains.
Officials did not release details regarding Asendorf’s cause of death, but previously stated that foul play was suspected.
Additionally, detectives believe McCray and Asendorf knew each other prior to the alleged murder, according to WSVN.
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Authorities reportedly allege Brandon Ward McCray murdered 56-year-old Heather Asendorf after her body was found on Hollywood Beach in Hollywood, Florida on Dec. 26, 2025. (iStock)
“This case remains an active criminal investigation,” Hollywood police said in a news release. “There is no indication of a broader threat to the community.”
McCray was previously charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in 2023 after allegedly brandishing a gun at a tow truck driver as his vehicle was being repossessed, according to NBC Miami.
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Officials reportedly did not release details regarding Heather Asendorf’s cause of death, but previously stated that foul play was suspected. (iStock)
He was taken into custody at his nearby home and booked into the Broward County Main Jail on $770,000 bond, WPLG reported.
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The Hollywood Police Department and McCray’s attorney did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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