IRS fast-tracked tax-exempt grant for 'After School Satan Club,' according to watchdog group

(Reuters/Chip East)The National Debt Clock hangs on a wall next to an office for the Internal Revenue Service near Times Square in New York.

Documents acquired by a watchdog group revealed that an "After School Satan Club" based in Tacoma, Washington received special treatment from the Internal Revenue Office (IRS) for their tax-exempt application.

The "After School Satan Club" at Point Defiance Elementary applied for the privilege on Oct. 21, 2014. The IRS accepted their request and gave them the special designation on Oct. 31, 2014.

"While the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) makes conservative groups wait years for tax-exempt status an 'After School Satan Club' launched to hinder Christian-based counterparts got its nonprofit ranking in just ten days," the Judicial Watch, the same monitoring agency that brought the Obama administration's IRS scandal to light, wrote in their report.

The watchdog organization's investigations revealed that while the IRS singled out nonprofit conservative organizations that push for religious, charitable, and educational platforms — often forcing them to wait for up to seven years for their tax-exempt designation — the IRS favored leftist groups, such as the "After School Satan club," by fast-tracking their request approvals.

Based on the records acquired by the Judicial Watch, the IRS illegally connived with another federal body in targeting groups that have conservative-sounding words in their appellation, intentionally drawing the approval of their tax-exemption request.

The "After School Satan Club" was initially proposed in October 2016 by the Satanic temple of Seattle. According to the organization's website, the club seeks to promote a "scientific, rationalist, non-superstitious world view" among their participants.

The club describes the "twisted Evangelical teachings of The Good News Clubs" as efforts to "rob children of the innocence and enjoyment of childhood, replacing them with a negative self image, preoccupation with sin, fear of Hell, and aversion to critical thinking."

Based on the watchdog group's investigations, the Satanic Temple of Seattle is directed by one Lilith X. Starr, who reportedly told the Tacoma school district's superintendent that the "After School Satan Club" is facilitated by "caring Satanists."

However, while records from the elementary school show that no one registered for the Satan club two weeks after its establishment, Judicial Watch stressed the fact that "the IRS fast-tracked a deranged Satanic cult to operate as a nonprofit in taxpayer-funded elementary schools."

Copyright © 2016 Ecumenical News