Idiot of the Week: A NY School Board Member Thought the Salem Witch Trials were about "Satan"

You would think that someone elected to a school board would know that the Salem Witch Trials were all about "religious hysteria" concocted against women (and a few men) in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. But this week's IDIOT, who happens to be a pastor, thought it was about "satan." Why he is on a school board is absurd.

(Batavia NY school board member and Christian pastor Dan Schmidt)

SUMMARY:  In New York, Batavia school board member and Christian pastor Dan Schmidt voted against a senior trip to Boston because students wanted to visit the Salem Witch Museum. He called it “Satanic”—then admitted he didn’t know its history.

Christian school board member melts down over class trip to “Satanic” Salem Witch Museum

Batavia City Schools board member Dan Schmidt admitted he didn’t know the museum’s history—but condemned it anyway

A member of the Batavia City Schools board in New York voted against approving a senior class trip to Boston because the itinerary included a stop at the Salem Witch Museum.

As “a pastor in the room,” Dan Schmidt explained, “we're going to send our kids to a witch museum? To me, like, that is awful.” He later voted against the trip as a whole because he didn’t want kids going to “what I would consider a Satanic witch museum.”

He was the only vote against the trip. But the discussion surrounding it was appalling to watch.

Here's the video story if you prefer to watch/listen:

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Student representatives presented a draft itinerary to members of the school board. The itinerary, as it stands, includes the Duck Tour, a dinner cruise, and a stop at the Salem Witch Museum, which chronicles the infamous trials from the 1600s.

I’ve been there. It’s fascinating. It’s an educational experience, not an attempt to indoctrinate anyone into witchcraft. My kids loved it, too.

But Schmidt heard the word “witch” and couldn’t get over it.

Even when one parent (the one sitting with her back to the camera) tried to explain how visiting the Witch Museum would be incredible for her own daughter, Schmidt just dismissed her and kept ranting. 

 Deanna King is the mother of a student in that district, and she posted about Schmidt’s comments earlier this week—along with a brief lesson on the Salem Witch Trials. (Definitely worth watching!): VIDEO: instagram LINK Salem, she explained, was a reminder of what can happen when “fear becomes more powerful than facts.”