We’re right to be wary of the perils of thin community, like loss of meaning and, attachment to screens. But thick communities have woes too.

Two weeks ago, NPR reported on a group of Pentecostals in Appalachia who handle snakes in church to prove their faith in God. The story got us thinking: Why are the handlers bitten so rarely, and why ...

A snake-handling church was the target of a bizarre police raid 76 years ago in North Carolina, historians said. On Nov. 1, 1947, a venomous copperhead snake was seized from Zion Tabernacle Church in ...

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT Jamie Coots, from Kentucky in the US, was convinced serpents wouldn’t harm believers as long as ...

Jamie Coots was handling a rattlesnake at his Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name Church in Middlesboro when he was bitten on the hand Saturday night, another ...

Andrew Hamblin handles poisonous snakes every Sunday in the name of Jesus. At just 22, he leads Tabernacle Church of God in LaFollette, Tenn., a Pentecostal church that practices a rare, century-old ...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A Kentucky sheriff's office says a man has died from a snake bite suffered during a church service. The Bell County sheriff's office said Monday that 60-year-old John David ...

National Geographic Channel series will air a tribute to "Snake Salvation" star Jamie Coots on Thursday. Coots died Saturday after being bitten by a rattlesnake during a church service and refusing ...

NASHVILLE (Reuters) - A Kentucky snake-handling preacher who appeared in a television show about the religious practice died of a snakebite after refusing medical treatment, authorities said on Sunday ...

MIDDLESBORO, Ky. (AP) — Jamie Coots, a snake-handling Kentucky pastor who appeared on the National Geographic television reality show “Snake Salvation,” died Saturday after being bitten by a snake.