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Should “serpent handling believers” be lauded for their faith?

CHARLESTON, W. VA. –


A West Virginia Pentecostal pastor who used poisonous snakes during religious services has died of a rattlesnake bite. Mack Wolford, who just turned 44, was killed by a snake he had owned for years.  Wolford was performing a religious ceremony when the incident happened.  Wolford’s father, who was also a serpent-handling pastor, died in the same way nearly 30 years ago.[i]

In a recent article by published by the Washington Post, Ralph Hood wrote:

The death of Pastor Randall Mack Wolford from a serpent bite over this Memorial Day weekend has raised once again a familiar pattern: a serpent handler is bit, he or she succumbs to the bite, and media coverage focuses upon questioning what is arguably America's most unique form of religious expression. 

The fact that this took place in America is understandable, since there are now an estimated 40,000 types of Christianity practiced here by people who hold a variety of beliefs about their Bible. Hood continues:

“Pentecostal groups such as the Church of God and the Church of God of Prophecy endorsed the practice well into the 20th century.  Only when maiming and deaths from bites became documented by the media did these denominations gradually back away from the practice. The "renegade" Churches of God largely scattered throughout Appalachia continued the practice despite laws against handling that began with Kentucky and quickly followed in every state except West Virginia. . . .

“As a long time student and even admirer of the faith of handlers, I am persuaded that there is a curious bias in America culture. This bias permits high risk behaviors among consenting adults for all kinds of dangerous activities, from car racing to hang gliding to football but excludes religious ritual.  Why should religion be any different? “ 

Read Ralph Hood’s complete article at -- http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/mack-wolfords-death-a-reminder-that-serpent-handlers-should-be-lauded-for-their-faith/2012/06/05/gJQAWDN8FV_story_1.html

What do you think?

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