snake handling preacher won't get 53 snakes back
 

Here is a link to a news article in today's issue of The Tennessean (Nahville's newspaper) about a snake handling preacher who won't face charges but won't get back the 53 snakes that were confiscated from him.

I thought this might inspire some of you who might want to really demonstrate your faith!

http://www.tennessean.com/viewart/20...-serpents-back

Re: snake handling preacher won't get 53 snakes ba
 

wow, this can only read as a new breach in the relationship between church and state?

Re: snake handling preacher won't get 53 snakes ba
 

That's the guy on that show "Snake Salvation"

http://channel.nationalgeographic.co...rews-birthday/

no

Re: snake handling preacher won't get 53 snakes ba
 

Really. i thot snake-handlers had always been left alone there, hmm.

Re: snake handling preacher won't get 53 snakes ba
 

Ok, how is it that a guy in SA has heard of him, when i'm from the south and haven't lol

Re: snake handling preacher won't get 53 snakes ba
 

Nope. Just because it's a religious practice doesn't give it an exemption from the law. Why, you might argue that because your religion believes that men should marry many underage women, that you should be free to do so. As the FLDS learned, the good people of Texas were not going to put up with that kind of lawbreaking.

As for the snakes, Hamblin treated them poorly:

http://www.kansascity.com/2014/01/10...s-the-law.html

Re: snake handling preacher won't get 53 snakes ba
 

NatGeo is eternal and worldwide LOL.

NOTE: I'm from Texas.

Re: snake handling preacher won't get 53 snakes ba
 

Oh, alrighty then...thought you were in Saudi Arabia!

Re: snake handling preacher won't get 53 snakes ba
 

I was. Now I'm in Texas. In April(ish) or so I'll be back in Saudi Arabia. BUT: I'm a Texas citizen - LOL.

Re: snake handling preacher won't get 53 snakes ba
 

ok, i'm sceptible there; about as much as i would be at 'snake-handling preacher, i guess. Mostly because it is pretty hard to mistreat a snake? They can live on like two mice a year...

Re: snake handling preacher won't get 53 snakes ba
 

Charges will probably be dropped. Seems like I recall that in Florida some voodoo folks beat the state charges about cruelty to animals when the state brought charges against them for killing chickens for a sacrifice.

Re: snake handling preacher won't get 53 snakes ba
 

Charges actually were dropped. And it wasn't for the handling snakes part, it was for the "keeping poisonous snakes without a license" part. So far, no district attorney's wanted to have Hamblin challenge the state's anti-snake handling law in court on First Amendment grounds. (Several states in the Appalachians have them.) Why they might actually lose! I don't see a prosecution happening if/until a minor or a pregnant woman handles a snake, gets bit and dies. It's my understanding minors are kept from the snakes. I can't say the same for pregnant women (as in, "I don't know").

Re: snake handling preacher won't get 53 snakes ba
 

That preacher needs to move on over to Virginia. It's legal to keep all kinds of rattlesnakes and vipers and most anything here (permits may be required though). I know cause I've got a friend that has about 50 venomous snakes in his trailer.