Memorable World History/Authors

Snake-Handling Religions

Snake handling as a religious rite in the United States, also called serpent handling, is observed in a small number of isolated churches, mostly in the United States, usually characterized as rural and part of the Holiness movement. The practice began in the early 20th century in Appalachia and plays only a small part in the church service. Participants are Holiness, Pentecostals, Charismatics, or other evangelicals.

History

Many writers have attempted to designate George Went Hensley (1880–1955) as both the progenitor and popularizer of Appalachian religious snake handling, but his role in initiating the practice has been disputed by academic studies. Kimbrough notes that claims of Hensley being the originator of snake-handling are usually found to be unsubstantiated by research, and the origins of the observance are unclear. Hood and Williamson similarly argue that the beginnings of Pentecostal snake-handling rituals cannot be ascribed to a single person and that the observance arose independently on multiple occasions.

Historians agree that Hensley helped spread Pentecostal snake-handling throughout the southeast United States, and that coverage of Hensley's ministry was influential in prompting various churches to include the practice in their services. The media has focused on popular snake handlers such as Hensley, and the deaths of ministers due to snakebite have received particular attention.

George Went Hensley

George Went Hensley is often credited with introducing snake handling practices into the Church of God Holiness, an association of autonomous Christian Methodist congregations, founding the Dolly Pond Church of God in Birchwood, Tennessee, around 1910. He later traveled the Southeast promoting the practice, eventually resigning his ministry to start the first holiness movement church to require snake handling as evidence of salvation. If believers truly had the Holy Spirit within them, Hensley argued, they should be able to handle rattlesnakes and any number of other venomous serpents. They should also be able to drink poison and suffer no harm whatsoever. Snake handling as a test or demonstration of faith became popular wherever Hensley traveled and preached in the small towns of Tennessee, Kentucky, the Carolinas, Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana. Sister-churches later sprang up throughout the Appalachian region. In July 1955, Hensley died following a snakebite received during a service he was conducting in Altha, Florida.

Hensley's life was unusual for a clergyman. He had four wives (the first three marriages ended in divorce) and was frequently drunk. Practitioners of snake-handling continue to view him as a great man. Kimbrough recorded a discussion with an advocate of snake-handling who dismissed Hensley's personal failings as slanderous fabrications. His advocacy, leadership, and particularly his personal charisma, were important factors in the advancement of the movement.

Prevalence

Most religious snake handlers are still found in the Appalachian Mountains and other parts of the southeastern United States, especially in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, and South Carolina. In 2001, about 40 small churches practiced snake handling, most of them considered to be Holiness, Pentecostals, or Charismatics. In 2004, there were four snake-handling congregations in the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, Canada.

Ralph Hood, professor of social psychology and the psychology of religion at the University of Tennessee, who has studied the snake-handling movement, indicated in 2003 that the practice is "currently at a fairly low ebb of popularity". A 2013 article by National Public Radio gave a figure of "about 125" churches where snakes are handled, but also indicated that "snake handlers are notoriously private".