Before you take the poll at the bottom of this story, you should read this.
It’s a column written about the death of snake-handling preacher Jamie Coots, who was bitten by a rattle snake on Saturday, refused treatment, and died.
Long-time Journalist Jeffrey Weiss explains that snake handling churches turns to Scriptures in Mark, Luke and Acts to justify their beliefs. But don’t be so quick to call them crazy:
To most people, these seem like a crazy justification to handle deadly serpents. But I evaluate these kinds of claims through Weiss’ Law of Religious Relativism: Any religion is, by definition, crazy to a nonbeliever.
Weiss explains that people of various faiths believe many things that seem “crazy” to others. At the end of the day, he said, Coots made a difference:
But here’s another truth: Friends of mine who have attended and written about Coots’ church tell me that Coots was a powerful preacher. That members of his church say it saved them from the street, from drugs, from self-destructive and evil ways. And I believe it.
I believe it because, of the many flavors of faith I’ve covered, I can’t think of one where practitioners didn’t make a believable case that their religion helped give them purpose and peace and structure against the chaos of everyday life. Muslim, Jew, Pentecostal, Brahma Kumari, Sikh — my list could go on for a while.
Maybe you still do, or don’t, think snake-handling preachers are misguided. Either way, take our poll and let us know your thoughts.
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