Pentecostal Snake Handlers in Appalachia
7 April 2008 by StardustHere is an interesting documentary on snake handlers. If people went around behaving like this amongst the general public, they would most likely be locked up in the looney bin. Funny how these people never speak in tongues or”get the spirit” in the middle of Kmart or the grocery store, but is always confined to inside their churches (thank goodness.) For the people who get bit by these snakes and die, they say the person just didn’t have enough faith. If they don’t get bit, then their faith is strong and god is with them. Do they really think that a god would be playing magic tricks with snakes while there are so many problems in the world?
A question is raised by this documentary. Laws in several states have been established prohibiting the snake handling rituals. Only West Virginia still allows it. Should these people be allowed to practice their wacky beliefs when they are endangering themselves and their children? I say as for the adults, they can do what they want, but if it was unrelated to religion, authorities would be in there and saying they cannot have dangerous “pets” on the premises. What is your opinion?
Here is a funny song I found online about snake handlers. . .
Bob Jenkins and the Snake Handling Church Song
7 April 2008, on 8:11 pm
Nature has her ways. Why do they neglect the poison-drinking?
7 April 2008, on 8:25 pm
Star;
Great post. Since I have been a non-believer, I have found this practice to epitomize the stupidity of faith. Actually, even when I was a believer, I thought it was addle-brained, because I believed it was “testing Gawd.” And also, vipers don’t make good playmates–duh.
“If people went around behaving like this amongst the general public, they would most likely be locked up in the looney bin.”
So true. The moment I really started reasoning this way was the day I started letting go of my faith.
“For the people who get bit by these snakes and die, they say the person just didn’t have enough faith. If they don’t get bit, then their faith is strong and god is with them.”
Which illustrates the point I have said before: Bringing reason into a discussion with a person with strong religious convictions is like bringing a knife to a magic wand fight.
“Do they really think that a god would be playing magic tricks with snakes while there are so many problems in the world?”
Evidently. Once you wade through the fog of faith, you realize blind egotism is the sole driving impetus behind religious conviction.
I actually feel for the snakes in this instance–they are scared and bite out of a survival instinct. At least the snakes are smart enough to appropriately use the brains in their possession.
“Should these people be allowed to practice their wacky beliefs when they are endangering themselves and their children?”
Let them stay in the running for Darwin Awards all they want: It’s a free country and far be it from me to point out the obvious (vipers BITE, and their bite is often LETHAL, you inbred). Once they bring minors into the act, however, it’s child endangerment, plain and simple. You lose your parental rights at this point, demonstrating that you are an unfit parent.
“…if it was unrelated to religion, authorities would be in there and saying they cannot have dangerous “pets” on the premises.”
A land of laws should not allow superstitions to be used as a scapegoat for irresponsible parenting and reckless endangerment, regardless of the intent–these people know the law and can obey it like the rest of us, or suffer the consequences.
I’ve been considering moving lately. West Virginia is definitely off the list at this point. So much for my career aspirations as a banjo player and painter of velvet rottweiler portraits.
7 April 2008, on 10:53 pm
Sigh…I live in Appalachia…and I know all about this crap. The problem is that these people don’t understand snakes. My wife has a Masters degree in biology and specializes in herpetology, specifically in snakes. Venomous snakes only inject venom occasionally; typically you get what she calls a dry bite. So of course, these people mistakenly assume it is because jeebus has protected them or something or another. And yes, I have extended family who engage in this sort of behavior. We don’t speak.
8 April 2008, on 9:42 am
The problem is that these people don’t understand snakes.
Richard, you are absolutely right. And don’t you think that part of it is a snake can tell if a person is afraid?
I have a Bearded Dragon that my son brought to me when she was about 2 years old. I was afraid of her at first. She sensed that I was afraid and was quite skittish. Now I can hold her and even turn her on her back which was impossible before. (Is it gawd making her calm?
) She has only bitten me about twice in 6 years. Are the snakes that are used in the church services kept by people? If the snakes are kept and cared for by humans, then maybe it’s just like with my lizard, they are used to humans but startle sometimes.
8 April 2008, on 11:46 am
I think the state should allow people to do whatever insane things they want with snakes as long as they don’t endanger others and are able to make the decision on their own (i.e., are not crazy). Mind you, religion is a form of mental illness, but we don’t have to get into that.
I figure, if the state allows people to believe in a religion, crazy and dangerous as that is to others, then it ought to allow people to do other crazy, dangerous things too.
8 April 2008, on 12:24 pm
I’m always amused when other god botherers point their fingers at the truly freaky side show cults. Divine cannibalism is less bizarre than dancing with snakes?
It’s all a steaming pile.
8 April 2008, on 3:26 pm
…Makes you wonder if they will someday have a schism, with one sect handling only NON-poisonous snakes for the symbolic value (like teetotaling Protestants substituting grape juice for communion wine) while the orthodox ones sticking to their guns and only using the venomous ones.
Of course, even a nonpoisonous boa constrictor or python could possibly kill you if you let it get in a position to choke you.
I can just imagine: “Blasphemer! Coward! Using only garter snakes and rat snakes!? Have you no faith??”
Animal cruelty, child endangerment, disorderly conduct…a creative DA could probably throw in some drug-related charges, too.
8 April 2008, on 5:51 pm
Yeah, the problem with the non-venomous snakes is that they just find other ways to kill you if need be
I’m not sure about snakes sensing fear as I just don’t have any knowledge about it. But other animals can smell our sweat, which increases as we become afraid, so if the snake is a predator it is more likely to strike since, well, it can now readily find you. Their sense of vision is very poor, so you may be on to something there.
8 April 2008, on 8:06 pm
I grew up in southern West Virginia, and the church you’re refering to is almost certainly in the little town of Jolo. In the early 70s, my friends and I would go out and catch rattlesnakes, which the church bought from us for $10 apiece, a lot of money for kids back then.
Most pit viper bites are not fatal, and children are discouraged from taking part. They also drink battery acid, which sounds horrible until one considers that people’s stomachs are full of acid anyway.
Let morons be morons. I kind of admire West Virginia’s tolerance. Besides, that money kept my buddies and me in beer for a couple of summers.
8 April 2008, on 9:00 pm
John Anderson, thanks for your comment. That’s quite interesting. Battery acid…Blech!
8 April 2008, on 10:36 pm
That thar fella sayad that they onlay use whut’s in thuh bahbull. I don’t reconnoiter any electruc geetars or fancy ahr cornditionurs in that thar buk. That thar church had lectrik lahts too. I thank all thet sangin an geetar playin deestarbs the snakes. a-yep.
9 April 2008, on 12:29 am
Sounds like a sequel for Samuel Jackson:
SNAKES IN A CHURCH!
“I am sick of these motherfucking snakes!”
9 April 2008, on 8:58 am
Tommykey:
“There are motherfucking snakes in the motherfucking communion wine!”
9 April 2008, on 12:14 pm
I can’t believe Hannah Montana let her father do this gig. She needs to get ahold of her dad’s whacky business decisions.
9 April 2008, on 10:01 pm
Should snake handling believers be allowed to continue handling venomous snakes? Sure.
9 April 2008, on 11:43 pm
I dunno…perhaps if one of those idiot Fundie snake handlers gets bit enough times; “the wife” might come home to “witness” this::
[a scene from an old "B" horror movie]
“Sssssssene from Sssssss”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEVG_M3T1VY&feature=related
10 April 2008, on 1:00 am
Hey, check out these crazy fundies from the other side of the world. SICK…Warning…it is quite disturbing. Makes our snake handlers here see quite harmless and not quite so bizarre.
Rare Giant Sea Turtle Slaughtered in Gaza
And don’t tell me this is “tradition”…this is ignorance, evil, stupidity, lack of consideration for something that has lived a long,long time. IDIOTS
10 April 2008, on 8:14 am
I don’t give a fuck if the god humpers die from snakebites. But I worry about the snakes. You just know that they don’t treat them well.
Think about the poor snakes, people!
10 April 2008, on 2:43 pm
Star, that poor turtle! I feel ill.
10 April 2008, on 2:55 pm
Karen, I still feel sick. I feel sick every time I think about it. The way its flippers were frantically flapping, they way it was moving it’s mouth before they cut its throat. I can’t understand why if their Allah is so great why they need “magical” turtle parts and meat. That shows how damn much they trust their sky daddy…not at all apparently.
10 April 2008, on 2:56 pm
Rich, that is a good point. Isn’t this snake handling a form of animal cruelty?
12 April 2008, on 11:30 am
I shouldn’t have watched that video… being a vegetarian for almost 10 years now though, it’s what’s expected from humans. Claiming to be beings of “love” and “hope,” they kill. Killing is killing, no matter what it is. A being a true love would not inflict suffering on any other being, or try their hardest to minimize the amount of suffering they inflict on others. Instead, humans are barbarians!! Technology has advanced so much, yet human moral integrity and rational thought is primitive.
The world would be much better off if people would rise above religion…