Woman fatally bitten by snake in church

You know, it’s illegal in Kentucky to A) Handle snakes (or “serpents” as they say) and B) Marry your sister. That doesn’t stop people there from doing both.

Sadly, another non-true believer was struck dead by the fury of the Lord when she handled a dangerous snake while at church.

From the AP:

AP Wire | 11/07/2006 | Woman fatally bitten by snake in church

“She said she was bitten by a snake at her church,” Sizemore said.Handling reptiles as part of religious services is illegal in Kentucky. Snake handling is a misdemeanor and punishable by a $50 to $100 fine. Police said they had not received reports about snake handling at the church.

Snake handling is based on a passage in the Bible, in the Gospel of Mark, that says a sign of a true believer is the power to “take up serpents” without being harmed.

Church officials could not be reached for comment.

More on Snake Handling from Wikipedia:

Those espousing the snake handling practice base their belief upon Mark 16:17-18. It states the following:

“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

Based upon this scripture, they often include not only the handling of poisonous snakes (usually copperheads and rattlesnakes) in their services, but also handling fire and drinking water laced with strychnine, arsenic, or some other poisonous substance. Some of their churches even handle scorpions. Several investigations have concluded that many congregants do indeed ingest poisoned water.

Rags soaked in kerosene are ignited and placed in glass jars or empty pop bottles. Then they are passed around for any of the faithful who feel so inclined to touch them by slowly passing their hands through the flames or under their chins for several seconds.

More on Snake Handling from TalkingApes.com:

We do not recommend holding snakes. We realize that snakes, for the most part, do not like being held and will in fact try to bite you with their painful, poisonous fangs. Generally, we advocate staying away from anything that could kill you.

Freedom of religion, gotta love it.