A new generation of snake-handling preachers is emerging. Following the deaths of older leaders, their numbers are growing, according to a report from Nashville.

"While older serpent handlers were wary of outsiders, these younger believers welcome visitors and use Facebook to promote their often misunderstood—and illegal (except in West Virginia)—version of Christianity. They want to show the beauty and power of their extreme form of spirituality. And they hope eventually to reverse a (Tennessee) state ban on handling snakes in church."

"Part of the Pentecostal Holiness movement," the article says, "serpent handlers have a strict moral code. No drinking, drugs, cursing, or going to bars. No shorts or short-sleeve shirts, no sex outside of marriage. Women wear skirts or dresses, can't wear earrings or cut their hair."

Or get snake bit.

—from Tennesseean.com

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