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The Southern snake-handling cult of the U.S.A
At the turn of the Century, in the rural areas of the deep south, a small group of fundamentalists adopted the practice of confirming their faith by handling venomous snakes. Today the cult has spread to at least twelve different States, despite the fact that since 1947 snake handling has been prohi...
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Religious Studies
2023
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| _version_ | 1867613259424595968 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Shapcott, Moira |
| author2 | Chidester, David |
| author_browse | Chidester, David Shapcott, Moira |
| author_facet | Chidester, David Shapcott, Moira |
| author_sort | Shapcott, Moira |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | At the turn of the Century, in the rural areas of the deep south, a small group of fundamentalists adopted the practice of confirming their faith by handling venomous snakes. Today the cult has spread to at least twelve different States, despite the fact that since 1947 snake handling has been prohibited by law in all states except one. The cult-members, however, regard the legislation as being a violation of their fundamental right to worship as they please. Fatalities occur, the leaders spend time in prison, but still the cult flourishes, with various congregations quite openly flouting the law. In addition to handling snakes, the cultists also drink poison and handle fire, according to their interpretation of the Bible. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/38906 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:33:17.409Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publishDateRange | 2023 |
| publishDateSort | 2023 |
| publisher | Department of Religious Studies |
| publisherStr | Department of Religious Studies |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/38906 The Southern snake-handling cult of the U.S.A Shapcott, Moira Chidester, David Snake cults (Holiness churches) At the turn of the Century, in the rural areas of the deep south, a small group of fundamentalists adopted the practice of confirming their faith by handling venomous snakes. Today the cult has spread to at least twelve different States, despite the fact that since 1947 snake handling has been prohibited by law in all states except one. The cult-members, however, regard the legislation as being a violation of their fundamental right to worship as they please. Fatalities occur, the leaders spend time in prison, but still the cult flourishes, with various congregations quite openly flouting the law. In addition to handling snakes, the cultists also drink poison and handle fire, according to their interpretation of the Bible. 2023-09-27T13:56:56Z 2023-09-27T13:56:56Z 1988 2023-09-27T13:12:27Z Master Thesis Masters MA http://hdl.handle.net/11427/38906 eng application/pdf Department of Religious Studies Faculty of Humanities |
| spellingShingle | Snake cults (Holiness churches) Shapcott, Moira The Southern snake-handling cult of the U.S.A |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | The Southern snake-handling cult of the U.S.A |
| title_full | The Southern snake-handling cult of the U.S.A |
| title_fullStr | The Southern snake-handling cult of the U.S.A |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Southern snake-handling cult of the U.S.A |
| title_short | The Southern snake-handling cult of the U.S.A |
| title_sort | southern snake handling cult of the u s a |
| topic | Snake cults (Holiness churches) |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/38906 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT shapcottmoira thesouthernsnakehandlingcultoftheusa AT shapcottmoira southernsnakehandlingcultoftheusa |