“What do you say to folks who play with snakes in church?” Lester asked. “You can’t appeal to their ratiocinative capacities.” His reference to playing with snakes in church alluded to a bizarre form of Christian worship practiced by certain Pentecostal congregations, where the handling of poisonous serpents is, like speaking in tongues, regarded as a sign of salvation. (Darcy O’Brien, Crime and Politics in Appalachia, The World & I, 01/1/1995, p. 300.)
Leave a Reply