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Snake handling in Christianity

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Snake handling at Pentecostal Church of God, Lejunior, Harlan County, Kentucky September 15, 1946 (National Archives and Records Administration). Photo by Russell Lee.

Snake handling or serpent handling is a religious ritual in a small number of Pentecostal churches in the U.S., usually characterized as rural and part of the Holiness movement. The practice began in the early 20th century in Appalachia, and plays only a small part in the church service. Practitioners believe serpent handling dates to antiquity and quote the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Luke to support the practice:

And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. (Mark 16:17–18)

Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. (Luke 10:19)

Another passage from the New Testament used to support snake handlers' belief is Acts 28:1–6, which relates that Paul was bitten by a venomous viper and suffered no harm:

And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita. And the barbarous people shewed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold. And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand. And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm. Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.

Founders

A man preaching with one hand in the air, a woman next to him holds a Bible.
George Went Hensley preaching in 1947 outside a Hamilton County, Tennessee courthouse in which a snake-handling minister was on trial (from Taking Up Serpents: Snake Handlers of Eastern Kentucky by David L. Kimbrough)[1]

George Went Hensley (1880–1955) introduced snake handling practices into the Church of God Holiness, circa 1910.[2] He later resigned his ministry and started the first holiness movement church to require snake handling as evidence of salvation.[3][4] Sister-churches later sprang up throughout the Appalachian region.[1]

Snake handlers today and practices

As in the early days, worshipers are still encouraged to lay hands on the sick, speak in tongues, provide testimony of miracles, and occasionally consume poisons such as strychnine.[5] Gathering mainly in homes and converted buildings, snake handlers generally adhere to strict dress codes such as uncut hair, ankle-length dresses, and no cosmetics for women; and short hair and long-sleeved shirts for men. Most snake handlers preach against any use of tobacco or alcohol.

Most religious snake handlers are still found in the Appalachian Mountains and other parts of the southeastern United States, especially in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Ohio. However, they are gaining greater recognition due to news broadcasts, movies, and books about the non-denominational movement.

In 2001, about 40 small churches practiced snake handling, most of them considered to be holiness-Pentecostals or charismatics. In 2004, there were four snake handling congregations in the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, Canada.[citation needed] Like their predecessors, today's snake handlers believe in a strict and literal interpretation of the Bible, and most Church of God with Signs Following churches are non-denominational, believing that denominations are human-made and carry the Mark of the Beast. Worshipers attend services several nights a week, where if the Holy Spirit "intervenes", services can last up to five hours; the minimum is usually ninety minutes.[citation needed]

Risks

Some of the leaders in these churches have been bitten numerous times, as indicated by their distorted extremities. Hensley himself, the founder of modern snake handling in the Appalachian Mountains, died of a snakebite in 1955.[6] In 1998, snake-handling evangelist John Wayne "Punkin" Brown died after being bitten by a timber rattlesnake at the Rock House Holiness Church in rural northeastern Alabama[7] although members of his family contend that his death was probably due to a heart attack. Brown's wife had died three years earlier after being bitten in Kentucky. Another snake handler died in 2006 at a church in Kentucky.[8] In 2012, Pentecostal Pastor Mack Wolford died of a rattlesnake bite sustained while officiating at an outdoor service in West Virginia, as did his father in 1983.[9]

Herpetologists have opined that the risk of fatal bites is significantly reduced by the familiarity of the snakes with humans, and by the poor health of snakes that are insufficiently fed and watered.[10]

Legality

The states of Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee have passed laws against the use of venomous snakes and/or other reptiles that endangers the lives of others, or without a permit. The Kentucky law specifically mentions religious services; in Kentucky snake handling is a misdemeanor and punishable by a $50 to $100 fine.[11] Most snake handling, therefore, takes place in the homes of worshipers, which circumvents the process of attempting to obtain a government permit for the practice. Law enforcement usually ignores it unless and until they are specifically called in, which does not usually happen unless a death has resulted.

In July 2008, ten people were arrested and 125 venomous snakes were confiscated as part of an undercover sting operation titled "Twice Shy." Pastor Gregory James Coots of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus' Name (FGTJN) was arrested and 74 snakes seized from his home as part of the sting. A Tennessee woman died in 1995 due to a rattlesnake bite sustained during a service at the FGTJN church.[12]

Jamie Coots, son of Gregory Coots, who was featured in a National Geographic Channel program, Snake Salvation, was cited in 2013 for illegal possession and transportation of venomous snakes when three rattlesnakes and two copperheads were discovered in his vehicle during a vehicle check in Knoxville, Tennessee.[13] Coots died from a snake bite on February 15, 2014, after refusing medical treatment.[14] Just months before his death, Coots published an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, making an argument for US Constitutional protection regarding religious freedom, especially freedom to practice the unique variety of religion found in snake-handling churches.[15]

Snake handling is legal in the state of West Virginia, as the current state constitution does not allow any law to impede upon nor promote a religious practice.[16]

Snake handling was made a felony punishable by death under Georgia law in 1941, following the death of a seven-year-old of a rattlesnake bite. However, the punishment was so severe that juries would refuse to convict, and the law was repealed in 1968.[17]

Snake-handling churches

Alabama

Kentucky

South Carolina

Tennessee

West Virginia

  • Robert Schenkkan's play The Handler deals with the apparent death of a first-time snake handler and the involvement of law enforcement; in this case, the sheriff also being a snake handler.
  • Ray Stevens's "Smoky Mountain Rattlesnake Retreat" comically portrays a couple going to a Bible camp where snakes are passed around. It ends with the singer's wife stomping the rattlesnakes to death. It appears on his Surely You Joust album.
  • The second season of Saturday Night Live included a sitcom parody called The Snake-Handling O'Sheas.[22]
  • In the 2012 movie The Campaign, Congressman Cam Brady (played by Will Ferrell) attempts to boost his campaign popularity by joining a church of snake handlers in their sermon, where he is bitten.
  • Snake Salvation, a 2013 reality show produced for one season by the National Geographic Channel, featured modern snake-handlers. The show featured two snake-handling pastors and their congregations. The show's focus was on the late pastor Jamie Coots of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name in Middlesboro, Kentucky, who died on February 15, 2014. Coots was bitten by a timber rattlesnake that he was handling in a religious service at his church and died a short time later, having refused any medical treatment. The other featured pastor was Andrew Hamblin, pastor of the Tabernacle Church of God in LaFollette, Tennessee. Hamblin, a protégé of Coots, was worshiping at his mentor's church alongside Coots when the fatal snake bite occurred.[23]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b David L. Kimbrough (February 2002). Taking up serpents: snake handlers of eastern Kentucky. Mercer University Press. pp. xiv, 37–51. ISBN 978-0-86554-798-8.
  2. ^ Encyclopedia of American Religions gives the year as 1909; the Encyclopedia of Religion in the South gives it as 1913.
  3. ^ Anderson, Robert Mapes (1979). Vision of the Disinherited: The Making of American Pentecostalism. New York, New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 263.
  4. ^ Hood, Jr., Ralph W.; Williamson, W. Paul (2008). Them That Believe: The Power and the Meaning of the Christian Serpent-Handling Tradition. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press. pp. xiv, 37, 38. ISBN 978-0-520-25587-6.
  5. ^ Dennis Covington, Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia (Reading, MA.: Addison-Wesley, 1995).
  6. ^ Brown, Joi. "Snake Handling in the Pentecostal Church: The Precedent Set by George Hensley". Virginia Tech. Archived from the original on 2005-07-18. Retrieved 2014-01-13. {{cite web}}: line feed character in |title= at position 42 (help)
  7. ^ "Custody of 'snake-bite orphans' split between grandparents". CNN. 1999-02-12. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
  8. ^ "Woman fatally bitten by snake in church". USA Today. Associated Press. 2006-11-08. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
  9. ^ Duin, Julia (2012-05-30). "Serpent-handling pastor profiled earlier in Washington Post dies from rattlesnake bite". Washington Post. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
  10. ^ John Burnett (2013-10-18). "Serpent Experts Try To Demystify Pentecostal Snake Handling". National Public Radio.
  11. ^ http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Statutes/statute.aspx?id=19053
  12. ^ Alford, Roger (2008-07-12). "Pastor among suspects in illegal snake bust". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2008-08-03. Retrieved 2008-07-12.
  13. ^ a b "Kentucky Pastor Wants Snakes Confiscated in Knoxville Bust". Knoxville News Sentinel. 2013-02-13. Retrieved 2013-02-13.
  14. ^ "Pastor Dies After Snake He Was Handling Bit Him," WBIR.com, 16 February 2014.
  15. ^ http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303796404579101831593270054
  16. ^ Bastress, Robert (1995). The West Virginia Constitution: A Reference Guide. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. pp. 102–103. ISBN 0313274096.
  17. ^ Ruthven, Malise (1989). The Divine Supermarket. London: Chatto & Windus. p. 291. ISBN 0-7011-3151-9. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  18. ^ Mike Ford, "Should Christians Handle Snakes?." Forerunner, August 2003. Retrieved: 31 January 2008.
  19. ^ Pastor Jimmy Morrow (2005). Handling Serpents. Mercer University Press. p. 8. ISBN 0-86554-848-X.
  20. ^ Smietana, Bob (2012-06-03). "Snake-Handling Believers Find Joy in Test of Faith". The Tennessean. Retrieved 2012-06-03.
  21. ^ Dorgan, Howard. "Serpent Handling at Jolo, West Virginia and the Legitimacy of the Marcan Appendix". Appalachian State University. Archived from the original on 2006-09-08. Retrieved 2008-10-29.
  22. ^ SNL Transcripts: September 25, 1976
  23. ^ http://www.kentucky.com/2014/02/16/3092068/jamie-coots-well-known-snake-handling.html

Further reading

  • Ralph W. Hood, Jr. and W. Paul Williamson, Them That Believe: The Power and Meaning of the Christian Serpent-Handling Tradition (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008).
  • Dennis Covington: Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Salvation in Southern Appalachia: New York: Penguin: 1996.
  • Thomas Burton: Serpent Handling Believers: Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press: 1993.
  • Fred Brown and Jeanne MacDonald: The Serpent Handlers: Three Families and Their Faith: Winston-Salem: J.F.Blair: 2000.
  • Julia Duin, "Serpent-handling pastor profiled earlier in Washington Post dies from snakebite," The Washington Post, May 29, 2012.
  • Duin: "Death of snake-handling preacher shines light on lethal Appalachian tradition," CNN.com, June 2, 2012
  • Duin: "Reviving faith by taking up serpents," The Wall Street Journal, April 7, 2012
  • Weston LaBarre: They shall take up serpents: The psychology of the Southern Snake Handling Cult: University of Minnesota Press: 1962.
  • David Kinburgh: Taking Up Serpents: Snake Handlers of Eastern Kentucky: Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press: 1996.
  • Jim Morrow and Ralph Hood: Handling Serpents: Pastor Jimmy Morrow's Narrative History of his Appalachian Jesus' Name Tradition: Macon: Mercer University Press: 2005.
  • Ralph Hood and David Kimbrough: "Serpent Handling Pentecostal Sects: Theoretical Considerations" Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion: 34:3: (September 1995): 311-332
  • Stephen Kane: "Ritual Possession in a Southern Appalachian Religious Sect" The Journal of American Folklore: 27:348 (October-December 1974): 293-302.
  • Paul Williamson and Ralph Hood Jr: "Differential Maintenance and Growth of Religious Organisations Based on High-Cost Behaviours: Serpent Handling with the Church of God" Review of Religious Research: 46:2 (December 2004): 150-168.
  • Paul W. Williamson and Howard R. Pollo: "The Phenomenology of Religious Serpent Handling: A Rationale and Thematic Study of Extemporaneous Sermons" Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion: 38:2 (June 1999): 203-218.
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