(LifeSiteNews) — A pro-LGBT Virginia House of Delegates candidate endorsed by the state Democrat Party has backed a satanic after-school group and written “demonic” children’s books, the Daily Wire reported Saturday.
Jeremy D. Rodden is running on an education-first platform in the upcoming November election to replace the Republican incumbent in Virginia’s conservative 90th District.
He’s backed by the Virginia Democrat Party along with a slate of leftist groups and individuals, including Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, VA LGBTQ+ Democrats, and former Obama administration attorney general Eric Holder.
Rodden is an author and co-author of many children’s books and is described in his Amazon profile as a “stay-at-home dad of three children.”
Some of the books Rodden has written or contributed to blatantly focus on the demonic, the Daily Wire noted, including “UnCommon Evil: A Collection of Nightmares, Demonic Creatures, and UnImaginable Horrors,” which is billed as containing “20 of the most horrifying stories our deviant authors’ minds can conceive.”
Another book for which Rodden is listed as a co-author, “Demonic Household,” promises to start readers “off with light, soft stories,” then gradually lead them “into the ever darker, gorier, and more demonic stories with each passing page.”
Last year, the local dad drew outrage from fellow parents when he promoted an After School Satan Club at the B.M. Williams Primary School in Chesapeake. The club has provoked strong backlash from Catholics and American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property.
READ: Virginia Catholics fight back against ‘After School Satan Club’ with Rosary rallies
One parent, Stan Epps Jr., told the Christian Broadcasting Network in December that he was “appalled” and wouldn’t “tolerate” the club.
“I will not be scared to stand up for the safety of our future generations and I will not be quiet because it may ‘offend’ people,” he said.
Meanwhile, Rodden said on Facebook he couldn’t “wait to sign up my second grader for this after-school club.”
The Democrat candidate, who received his MA in Education from Holy Family University but was endorsed by FFRF Action Fund, the nonprofit partner of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, argued that the satanic group was actually a neutral entity seeking to displace the overt religiosity of Christian clubs and groups.
The Satanic Temple (TST), which created the After School Satan Club, openly refers to itself as “a religious organization” and calls itself “the primary religious Satanic organization in the world with … a number of high-profile public campaigns designed to preserve and advance secularism and individual liberties.”
TST has frequently made headlines for explicitly attempting to undercut Christianity, especially Catholicism, in the public square by engaging in controversial and blasphemous activities and by openly promoting transgender ideology and abortion as “religious rituals.”
On Facebook, Rodden argued that the After School Satan Club “does not practice any religious indoctrination whatsoever, unlike some of the other clubs offered at this school and at schools throughout Chesapeake Public Schools.”
Rodden has responded to public outcry over his endorsement of the club by clarifying that he was not responsible for bringing the club to the school, and that he believes “that *no* religious clubs belong in our schools.” In lieu of being able to prohibit Christian groups, however, he argued that “the only acceptable choice is” that “all” religious groups be allowed.
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In addition to backing the satanist after school group, Rodden also supports a bevy of now-commonplace far-left causes, including permanent protections for abortion and transgender mutilation.
On his website, he argues in favor of “fundamental protections for women’s reproductive healthcare [sic] and LGBTQIA+ affirmation,” arguing the ability to kill preborn babies and receive mutilating gender interventions “must be fully codified into our laws and state constitution.”
Running against Rodden to represent the 90th district is Republican incumbent James (Jay) Leftwich.
Leftwich has voted to protect female-only sports teams from gender-confused males, require schools to notify parents if children express gender-confusion at school, and guard Second Amendment rights. He also rejected a measure to repeal a prohibition on Virginia’s health insurance plans covering abortions and has backed Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin in supporting a 15-week abortion ban.