Mary Scott

WBIR-TV, Knoxville, Tenn.

Religious experts say snake handlers are aware of the risks and accept the consequences

Snake handling started in the Appalachian region of the country

Snake handling began in 1910 near Chattanooga%2C Tenn.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The death by snakebite of a Kentucky pastor who starred in the TV show Snake Salvation has raised questions about the often illegal and deadly ritual.

Pastor Jamie Coots died after a snake bit him during a worship service Saturday. Middlesboro Police said he denied medical treatment and died at his home. Funeral services for Coots, 42, will be Tuesday in Middlesboro, Ky. Coots is survived by a wife, two children, a granddaughter and his father.

Professors who study snake handling say worshipers are very aware of the risks they are taking and accept the consequences.

Brian Pennington, a religion professor at Maryville College in Maryville, Tenn., has studied Coots during his research on snake handling in worship.

He said the prominent leader of the snake handling community saw the practice as "an absolute command of God."

"These are not irrational people. These are people who know very well what they're doing every Sunday or Wednesday night — whenever it might be they go into that church," Pennington said. "They know very well the fate that Pastor Coots suffered could be suffered by any of them who does this during a service."

Snake handling began near Chattanooga, Tenn., in 1910 when Pastor George Hensley said he was commanded by God to "take up serpents." He was inspired by the book of Mark chapter 16:18, that says: " they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."

Hensley helped to spread the worship throughout the region.

"Generally speaking it's an Appalachian phenomenon," said Michael Toomey, a history professor at Lincoln Memorial University. "By the 1930s, it's become popular. So much so, that by the 1940s, most state legislatures in Appalachia have banned it because there had been a rash of deaths prior to that."

Toomey said Hensley died of a snakebite and reports show he had been bitten nearly 400 times prior to his fatal bite.

In an interview Sunday, Coots' son Cody said his father had been bitten eight times before.

Pennington cited a study that said 92 people have died from snakebites during worship. Death has not been a deterrent to discontinuing snake handing in the past and Pennington does not think it will be in the future.

"In many respects I think we can expect this kind of death, especially by such a prominent figure as Pastor Coots, to cause people to recommit to the tenants of their faith and enact their obedience to a text which they think places on them this tremendous obligation," Pennington said.

Pennington said snake handlers do not operate under the assumption snakes will never bite them.

"They do it simply as an act of obedience," he said.

Handlers, he said, have an understanding that unless they feel the anointing of the Holy Spirit, they are not to pick up the serpent. If they feel anointed by God, they must pick it up.

"This is by no means a test of their faith," he said.

In Tennessee and Kentucky, it is illegal to use snakes for worship. Toomey said snake handlers do not attempt to rationalize their actions. He said they understand the risks going into it, they accept death as a consequence, and are not concerned about the legal repercussions.

"They believe they are individually bound to do this. Laws don't matter. If you receive direction like that, state statutes simply don't matter," Toomey said.

Coots pleaded guilty last year to violating Tennessee's exotic animals law and agreed to surrender his snakes.

Snake handling does not align with a specific denomination. Members are generally not required to handle snakes if they don't feel called to and children are prohibited from doing so.