question: How serious of an offense is it to use poisonous snakes during church service? answer: A capital offense paragraph: The recent death of the "snake-handling" pastor of a small Pentecostal church in Kentucky has raised an age-old conflict between church and state. Jamie Coots, the pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name in Middlesboro, Kentucky, died after being bitten on his right hand by a rattlesnake during a weekend church service where he was handling rattlesnakes willingly, it seems. It has been reported that the late pastor's son Cody Coots has continued the snake-handling tradition even after his father's death. People handle snakes at church for the same reason that people do lots of things: the Bible tells them so. "And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." Mark 16:17-18 This biblical passage is the genesis of serpent-handling for churches of the Holiness movement and the Pentecostal Church of God. For the faithful, those two verses are the authority for dancing with or passing around poisonous snakes during church services. Moreover, if bitten, they are likely to refuse medical treatment and rely upon God to heal them. There's just one problem with this Biblical authority. Another authority, known as the Commonwealth of Kentucky. In Kentucky, the practice is illegal. Well, barely. Under the applicable section KRS Â§437.060, any person who displays, handles or uses a snake in connection with any religious gathering shall be fined $50 to 100. Hardly a capital offense. The Kentucky legislature has sent a message: poisonous snake-handling is marginally illegal -- but not as illegal as drugs or other crimes. The legislature's assigned penalty appears to fall somewhere between a speeding ticket and an overdue library book. 