snake handling preacher won't get 53 snakes back

[shazeep]

Originally Posted by SiblingRevelry

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

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...

[Abiding Now]

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.

[SiblingRevelry]

Originally Posted by Abiding Now

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.

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").

[jfrog]

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.