Talk:Snake handling

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Contents

[edit] first amendment

That quote from the first amendment is pretty obviously not from the first amendment.... if it's from a court ruling that expounded on 1st amendment rights, that's cool, but could someone clarify that and cite it? --d

[edit] snake goddess picture

Does that fake statue of the snake goddess really belong here? ---User:Ihcoyc

I was just going to ask the same thing, especially because (fake or not) it has nothing to do with Christianity...isn't it Cretan? Adam Bishop 05:03, 11 Aug 2003 (UTC)

[edit] native americans

is there any evidence that this practice predates Columbus say amongst local Indians?

The Hopi traditional religion practiced "snake dancing" in an annual August ceremony. I believe they still do Unfortunately I must have deleted my paper on it so I'm not sure what sources I used on it. Here's some links from University sites though.

Enjoy--T. Anthony 03:55, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

I was refering to East coast tribes grazon 00:58, 24 October 2005 (UTC)

Ah. Well snakes appear in some East Coast tribal myths, but basically I don't know of anything like snake handling in their traditions.--T. Anthony 11:45, 29 October 2005 (UTC)
Apologies they did it every other August and poisonous snakes I guess weren't/aren't required.--T. Anthony 03:58, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

I'd like to see a citation with regards to Calvinists originally bringing this ritual to America. I believe this is untrue.4.226.141.245 21:48, 4 December 2006 (UTC)J. Hinton

Watch the History Channel then. There wasn't even any debate when they covered snake handling in the U.S. ~Friendly-Atheist

[edit] Relative time stat

The phrase "In the last 80 years" needs to be changed to an absolute time period. 216.75.170.81 05:05, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Only if you can provide a darn good reason why it needs to be given an absolute time. ~Friendly-Atheist

[edit] Dear Mr. "Citation Needed" on Everything Guy...

Come on... In the Risk area a lot of this stuff is a long donkey faced "Duh" and this stuff has been re-aired on the discovery network about a hundred times now. I almost suspect that someone with a religious bias may silmply take offense to any indication that snake bites can be harmful to believers or something. If someone feels a "citation needed" flag is needed on a specific point, go ahead and re-add it, but please post why on the discussion page. I won't object if you at least posit a good reason. ~Friendly-Atheist

In accordance with WP:PROVEIT, I have removed some unsourced statements from said section.--Agha Nader (talk) 20:29, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Snake handling among early Christians

One of the mainstream Church Fathers mentioned snake sects (in Syria?), second-fourth century. This should be tracked down and given a brief paragraph. --Wetman 01:05, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

Ophites! They deserve a mention and a See also. --Wetman 01:10, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Snake handling churches

The deacon of the Sand Hill Church in Del Rio contacted me and assured me his church was not a snake-handling church. I recommend removing the entire list of churches, except those with snake-handling practices documented in verifiable sources. Bms4880 23:08, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Follow-up

I'm requesting sources for most of these churches listed. I removed the Carson Springs church, as it apparently no longer exists. Without sources, we have no way of knowing when a vandal has randomly added a church's name to the list. Also, the Snake Oil page by "Brother Randall," from which part of this list was apparently copied, is not a reliable source, and has been wrong or outdated in the past. Bms4880 (talk) 19:21, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Occultic

The Church of God is officially recognized as a cult by Evangelical and Baptist Christians.

The practices of Snake Handling "churches" are occultic in nature, and no bible verse can justify them.

This is not a "Christian" group.

Mcapplbee (talk) 06:46, 15 February 2008 (UTC)