Please leave your snake in the pew
at the end of the service!

Quoting Bill Leonard, Dean of the Divinity School of Wake Forest South Carolina, Terry Mattingly writes in a very old article which I came across by accident:

"What the serpent handlers keep saying to us -- whether we want to listen or not -- is that we all tend to emphasize the parts of the Bible that make us feel comfortable," said Leonard. "We try to make it a tame book. Whatever the serpent handlers teach us, they can teach us that the Bible cannot be domesticated."

Well this is true - it was Schweitzer's task in The Quest for the Historical Jesus, wasn't it - to emphasize the strangeness of the New Testament witness over against its domestication by 19th Century Liberalism. Look at the mess that has gotten us into! So maybe a little domestication is okay? No need to transfer absolutely everything over between the world of the text and our world as if there were absolutely no difference.

If you're not convinced - then book yourself off a Sunday morning - bone up on Mark 16:17-18 - replenish your stock of anti-venin and go see for yourself. Wikipedia give you a list of churches where snake handling is still practised.

Please note the Canadian entries on the list. British Columbia and Alberta frequently complain that Western Canada is under-represented in appointments to the Canadian Senate. Having each more snake-handling churches than South Carolina or Alabama is probably not helping the cause.

Alabama
Rock House Holiness Church on Sand Mountain in the rural northeast
Alberta, Canada
True Holiness Believers Gathering (Lethbridge)
Holiness Fire Church Of Lord Jesus With Signs Following (Edmonton)
British Columbia, Canada
The Right Hand Of Jesus With Signs Following Church (Kamloops)
Small Believers Of Light Church With Signs Following (Revelstoke)
Georgia
The Jesus Name Believers Holiness Church (Canton)
Holiness Church of God in Jesus' Name (Kingston)
Holiness Church Of Lord Jesus (Roopville)
Indiana
Hiway Holiness Church of God (Fort Wayne)
Kentucky
Crockett Church (Fields)
East London Holiness Church (London)
Michigan
Apostolic Church (Warren)
Ohio
Full Gospel Jesus Church (Cleveland)
Full Gospel Jesus Church (Columbus)
South Carolina
Holiness Church of God in Jesus Name (Greenville)
Tennessee
Holiness Church of God in Jesus Name (Carson Springs)
Sand Hill Church (Del Rio)
House of Prayer in Jesus Name (Morristown)
West Virginia
Church Of The Lord Jesus With Signs Following (Jolo)
Full Gospel Jesus Church (Micco)
Full Gospel Jesus Church (Kistler)

Don't know if I'm prepared to answer the inevitable question which is how somebody encounters an article on 'Snake Handling' by accident.