Witchcraft and occult on the rise among U.S. youth 

But an Illinois school district is unlawfully preventing our client from stemming the tide. Liberty Counsel is taking them to court.  

A 2021 survey by Springtide Research Institute found that 51% of Gen-Z teens, and 40% of Millennial young adults regularly engage in the occult.

A story from an elementary school child saved through a Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) Good News Club demonstrates why these after-school programs are so crucially important in countering the rise of evil. And why Liberty Counsel must keep fighting to prevent anti-God school officials from unlawfully banning and discriminating against these groups.

Help us fight to save the next generation of children from Satan’s evil designs by supporting our legal fund today, and a special Challenge Grant will DOUBLE the impact of your gift.

Ephesians 2:2 says that Satan is the “prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.” A quick look at media, whether transmitted through movies, television, or the internet, shows that Satan has been hard at work using the airwaves to spread darkness.   

Movies like Harry Potter present witchcraft as empowering entertainment for children. Young adult television shows like Lucifer present the devil as a decent guy who is just misunderstood. Cable shows like Ghost Adventures regularly televise actual demonic conjurings and satanic seances, while shows like The Dead Files encourage people to seek out “chaos magicians,” witches, and “demonologists” to ”spiritually cleanse” their homes. Social media hashtag #WitchTok, which promotes all things witchcraft, had nearly 65 billion views as of late 2024. 

A 6-year-old boy forced into the occult by his mom. Liam’s* mother got sucked into the occult and became a practicing Satanist. Little Liam was forced to participate, joining hands with his mother and her fellow Satanists from within a “pentacle,” a circle drawn around a pentagram to conduct their "spell work” and demonic conjurings.

But Liam’s grandmother had enrolled him in a CEF Good News Club, where he learned that Jesus is stronger and better than the devil or any of his minions. He couldn’t defy his mother at such a tender age, so he took what he had learned in his Good News Club, and began quietly praying in the name of Jesus any time his mother and her Satanist friends forced him to sit in their satanic circle.

After one satanic session, Liam’s mother hit him on the head with a hairbrush, drawing blood. But rather than seeking revenge, as his mother’s dark religion taught, Liam responded by getting a paper crown from his room and placing it on his mother’s head. When Liam’s grandmother asked him why he would do such a thing, Liam looked at his grandmother incredulously, “Don’t you know, Grandma? Jesus teaches us to forgive.”  

Child Evangelism Fellowship is fighting this dark trend with its Good News Clubs. But woke school administrators, like the ones in our latest case against Moline-Coal Valley School District, in Illinois, are unlawfully banning and/or discriminating against the Good News Clubs. We’re taking them to court. 

Help us fight for children’s souls! 

Kids often begin dabbling with witchcraft out of a desire to control their lives and circumstances. Lacking a connection with God, these youth embrace the occult to “empower” themselves and make themselves their own “gods.”

“We’re open to interpret what we want to think (for) ourselves and make our own guidelines when it comes to spirituality, which is why I think a lot of young people resonate with it,” says 16-year-old Zaina Qureshi on why she and so many of her peers now practice the occult. 

The younger generation is “in a state of spiritual turmoil,” says David Kinnaman, CEO of Barna Group. “The supernatural world represents the epicenter of the spiritual struggle for their hearts and minds. When teenagers settle for cheap alternatives instead of choosing intimacy with God — and relying upon His care and His power — it can lead to years, even decades, of spiritual entrapment in their lives.”

But Barna’s research reveals the antidote to the spiritual warfare plaguing our youth. Barna’s research revealed that “possessing an evangelical faith perspective was by far the most significant factor insulating teenagers from unwanted exploration of the supernatural.” In fact, evangelical kids are nearly three times less likely than their peers to have engaged in witchcraft.

Sadly, our churches are not addressing these subjects, not even in youth groups. The result is a hole in the hearts of our nation’s children that the enemy is filling with the occult. 

But by leading children to Christ in elementary school, the most critical formation period of their lives, Good News Clubs are insulating children against the attacks of the enemy.

Liberty Counsel has fought and won nearly 400 cases in which public schools have sought to unlawfully ban or otherwise discriminate against Good News Clubs. But woke, anti-God public school administrators keep trying to ban these life-changing groups. Last Friday, we filed suit against Moline-Coal Valley School District of Illinois, and we will soon be filing against a school district in California as well.

Each one of these cases represents children being denied the gospel and/or schools preventing parents from even knowing it’s available. Over the years, thousands of children, just like Liam, have been totally transformed. We have a right to complain about public schools, but if we just curse their darkness but don't shine the light, then what are we doing?

We need your help to keep defending Good News Clubs. Support our legal fund today and our Challenge Grant will DOUBLE your impact.