Trial coming soon for Florida man suing over schools’ refusal to display Satan banners

Tallahassee Democrat | By Douglas Soule | January 7, 2025

A free speech activist suing over Florida schools’ refusal to display a Satan banner will get his day in court, a federal judge has ruled.

In a recent decision, U.S. District Judge Robert Scola of Miami rejected the School Board of Broward County’s request for the case to be thrown out, giving a thumbs up to a March 10 trial.

The board has been sued by South Florida’s Timothy “Chaz” Stevens, the minister of what he calls “The Church of Satanology and Perpetual Soiree.”

The banner Timothy “Chaz” Stevens tried to place in several Broward County schools.

Stevens wanted to display a banner that read “Satan Loves the First Amendment” at several public schools in the county, according to his lawsuit. Those schools were already displaying banners advertising Christian churches.

“It’s not about the banners,” he said in a Monday afternoon phone interview. He views it as “fighting the good fight” for the First Amendment.

Chaz Stevens from Deerfield Beach talks to the media next to his Festivus pole made out of beer cans in the rotunda of the Florida Capitol, December 11, 2013 in Tallahassee, Florida. Stevens display was intended to counter the religious Christian Nativity manger also on display. Based on an episode of the television sitcom Seinfeld, Festivus has become a secular holiday celebrated on December 23 to represent the antithesis of the commercialism of the Christmas season.

Stevens was behind beer-can Festivus pole at state Capitol

Stevens is a longtime rabble-rouser over religious freedom and other constitutional topics.

For example, expressing his disagreement over book removals in Florida schools, he filed objections to the Bible in school districts statewide. He also created headlines years ago over his request, which was granted, to place a Festivus Pole made of beer cans as a holiday display in the Florida Capitol.

Yet, his Broward County banner requests weren’t granted. The school board ended up removing the other religious banners, though.

For Stevens, that’s not enough.

“This selective application of the policy underscores viewpoint discrimination, as (the school board) selectively permits signage from certain religious organizations while excluding Plaintiff’s message, even though Plaintiff’s banner aligns with principles of religious freedom and equality,” his lawsuit reads.

Chaz Stevens engages with a debate with Pam Olsen, President of the Florida Prayer Network, in front of his Festivus pole made out of beer cans in the rotunda of the Florida Capitol, December 11, 2013 in Tallahassee Florida.

Was there ‘deliberate indifference to a constitutional right’?

Cathleen Brennan, a school district spokesperson, wrote in a Monday afternoon email that it “cannot comment on potential, pending or ongoing lawsuits.”

Yet, in a filing, an attorney for the school board wrote, “Since the School Board’s policy is to not permit any political or religious signage, Plaintiff must sufficiently allege that a custom was in place that constituted ‘deliberate indifference to a constitutional right.’ ”

The board argues that and other legal standards weren’t met by Stevens. He “is not sincerely religious and … Satanology is not a religion,” it also says.

In his lawsuit, Stevens said Satanology promotes “religious plurality, secularism and the separation of church and state through public expression of minority religious viewpoints.”

Scola, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, agreed with some of the board’s arguments but refused to dismiss Stevens’ claims that the First Amendment and the Florida Religious Freedom Restoration Act were violated.

The March 10 trial will be a bench trial, he ruled, meaning he’ll make a decision instead of a jury.