By Bill Lee
“… And God created… every living creature that moveth…” and proclaimed it good. Genesis 1:21
Accepting His sovereignty unconditionally, I will admit, however, that I and many others do not have unconditional respect for all of His creation.
Today I read a WSJ column written by a fundamentalist pastor (Jamie Coots) whose complaint is that the government while it proudly claims that it supports freedom of religion allows even the religion of those whose aim is apparently to kill us. He says his church is the object of governmental discrimination simply because of one of it religious practice, a practice that he says is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, like it or not. But wait before you offer your defense of this precious liberty, one that caused many of the early settlers to come to America in the first place. See if you might like to add a reservation to the bedrock amendment. Is there a red line lurking?
The Kentucky Reverend makes a pretty good case to support his and his followers’ rights to follow a Bible based religious practice. (See Mark 16:18; Luke 10:19.) Unconventional as it might be to mainline denominations, he is adamant in his stand for religious tolerance even though the practice might be alien/offensive to most conventional believers. And what is it? I have heard comments of this church performance offered by many, none positive: snake handling (rattlers, copperheads).
This religious sect holds to a literal interpretation of these previously stated Bible verses that equate the willingness of believers of this practice as simply a blind obedience test of their unwavering faith. If you believe strongly enough, your faith will be vindicated meaning you will not need to have an antidote on hand and someone with a cell phone with 911 on the speed dial. Of the 50 states, with only one exception, West Virginia, the public handling of these snakes is generally illegal.
To further support his claim that his followers are being discriminated against, he cites practices of other more recognized religions whose practices he believes could raise (but do not) similar questions. But before you jump to a hasty conclusion regarding your stand on the ‘snake’ issue as being forbidden because of its inherent danger to participants, think about this: Would you agree academically that riding a motorcycle without a helmet presents a predictable danger to the operator yet the law allows it? To be consistent, why would you not allow snake handling based on the same rationale? As for me, if the issue arises in our congregation, I am voting against it.
So snakes are not in my top 100 most favorite creatures and so is another that made the Ark that I recently encountered. If you read my column ‘A Berry Good Tomato Grower,’ I mentioned that I had several plants in my “‘garden.” The most prominent ones are the ($25) tomato plants that have produced abundantly. Apparently I am not the only consumer of the plant. I noticed recently that some of my best ripening tomatoes were being gnawed by an animal, I thought of a rabbit until I discovered the real culprit.
There he was racing across the driveway just outside my kitchen window. Obviously well fed from his looks, he made repeated visits to the ‘garden’ until I determined that I did not want to share any longer so out came the trap. I did have some slight qualms about trapping even a rat but when I checked my tomatoes, this faded away. But there is good news for animal lovers.
I baited the trap, placed it in a logical location and waited for the trap to snap on its victim. Well, it did snap. Alas, the spring had worked but failed to do its job. The cheese, however, was gone when I checked the trap later.
The vegetarian rat is still enjoying the fruit of the harvest. Let’s just share.
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Bill Lee, PO Box 128, Hamer, SC 29547
