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Op-Ed Contributor

Snake Handling Pastor Arrested In Illegal Snake Bust

By Robert Paul Reyes


"The pastor of a Kentucky church that handles snakes in religious rites was among 10 people arrested by wildlife officers in a crackdown on the venomous snake trade.

More than 100 snakes, many of them deadly, were confiscated in the undercover sting after Thursday's arrests, said Col. Bob Milligan, director of law enforcement for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife.

Most were taken from the Middlesboro home of Gregory James Coots, including 42 copperheads, 11 timber rattlesnakes, three cottonmouth water moccasins, a western diamondback rattlesnake, two cobras and a puff adder."

Quotation from the Associated Press

If a friend invites me to a church service for a special occasion, I will gladly put up with rituals involving lighting candles or burning incense, but I draw the line at snake handling. I expect a snake in the pulpit, but I refuse to attend a service where the parishioners are handling snakes.

In the Garden of Eden the devil appeared to Eve as a serpent, by handling and caressing snakes aren't the pious worshipping Satan?

A minister shouldn't be above the law, I hope Rev. Coots is handed a stiff sentence for buying, selling and possessing illegal reptiles. Coots should also be charged with cruelty to animals, snakes don't belong cooped up in a house, they should be out in the wild.

There's a verse in the Bible that says that true believers can pick up snakes without being harmed, but there's also a verse that's says that if your eye offends you, pluck it out. Do these simpletons pluck out their eyes when they look upon a Jessica Alba and imagine all sorts of sexual thoughts?

I wonder if any parishioner has ever exclaimed: I am M***** F******* tired of all these M***** F***** snakes in this church!

Robert Paul Reyes is a NewsBlaze writer on Politics, Pop Culture and Pointless Pontificating. Contact him by writing to NewsBlaze.

Tags: snake handling, relgion,Illegal Snake Bust,Robert Paul Reyes

* The views of Opinion writers do not necessarily reflect the views of NewsBlaze

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