The Family Cemetery In Appalachia

The family cemetery in Appalachia has played an important role in social life, local history, and culture since Daniel Boone led the earliest settlers through the Cumberland Gap. The early settlers were coming into a country in which there were no roads, no white or European presence, and no prior history by their own kind of people. It was a rugged and dangerous environment. In a very short time, accidents, child birth, Indian warfare, and disease began to take their toll. Customs and sanitary norms of the time required that the dead be buried immediately. A certain percentage of those deaths took place even before the settlers were near an area where they intended to stay long term. In those cases, the dead were simply buried in the next available bit of ground where it was soft enough to dig. Many of those trail side graves have been lost for centuries. At times of Indian warfare, it was also not unknown for the settlers to make attempts to conceal the graves of their dead. They generally would have done this for two reasons: 1) to conceal losses of able bodied fighters from the enemy; and, 2) due to generally unfounded fears of desecration of the graves. But after settlers had found the piece of land they intended to call home, they buried their dead on their own land. A small piece of land would be chosen at the time the need first arose. The first grave would be dug and that spot would be designated the family cemetery for the Browns, or White's, or Hicks'. These first and most eventual graveyards in Appalachia were usually located on a piece of high ground, often with a good view of the surrounding area. It was often a favorite spot of the head of the household. There was also a common belief that on resurrection morning the dead in Christ would arise with the first rays of the morning sun. The higher elevations usually got morning sunshine earlier than low lying ground. It was also common for graves to be placed with the face of the dead toward the sunrise.

"Job: A Comedy Of Justice" by Richard A. Heinlein

"Job: A Comedy Of Justice" by Richard A. Heinlein is a novel which the author based loosely on the Book Of Job in the Bible. It was published in 1984 and, like several others of his novels, was nominated for most of the major awards available to writing in the field of science fiction and fantasty. It was nominated for both the Nebula Award and the Hugo Award in 1985 but won neither of them. It did win the Locus Award For Best Fantasy Novel in 1985. It is a truly unique book in many ways. But then it is possible to make that statement about many of Heinlein's novels over the years. After all, he won a pile of awards from nearly every organization which concentrates on science fiction and fantasy. He won four Hugo Awards for the best science ficiton novel during his lifetime. But this novel had aspects to it which probably prejudiced many voters and prevented it from winning as many awards as it might have otherwise. The pictures it presents of Heaven, Hell, and religion in general were not conducive of support from believers in anything remotely resembling a customary or acceptable view of religion. The novel begins with the protagonist Alexander Hergensheimer choosing to walk across a fire pit during a shore visit by the travelers on a cruise ship on which he is traveling. He successfully makes the fire walk but lapses into a faint or brief coma from which he is revived to find himself in a different world, returns to find his ship is different but with a similar name,and a totally different crew. But there is a bright side to that new crew which includes Margrethe, the steward assigned to his room with whom he begins an affair and eventually finds himself in love. The ship is apparently hit by an iceberg in tropical waters and the two find themselves afloat in the ocean on a pool float surrounded by sharks. This is just the first in a long series of events, or sudden changes in their world and lives, which happen spontaneously and always without warning. They travel the world trying to get back to Kansas where Hergensheimer, now Alec Graham, and Margrethe to whom he refers as his wife despite being married in his past life, hope to find the answers to why their lives are suddenly upside down despite being in love. The changes just keep coming and the only consistency is their devotion to each other, Graham's work as a dishwasher no matter where he is, and the unending upheavel in their worlds. The book moves on to their being swept up, but separated, by a Kansas tornado which turns out to be the Apocalypse. Graham finds himself not only in Heaven but promoted to sainthood and unable to find Margrethe in a Heaven which consistently is portrayed in ways which very fun traditional religious believers would accept as being based on the Bible. Graham chooses to be sent to Hell to hunt for Margrethe after refusing to stop seeking her. In Hell, he is somewhat befriended by Satan himself, given a high dollar suite in a hotel and constantly served in all ways by a different woman who actually turns out to be Rahab from the Bible. While it is a strange novel in many ways with polygamy, rampant sex, infidelity, and a multitude of what most religious believers would classify as sins, both minor and major, it is a highly readable book and pulls the reader from one change in the world to the next with no actual idea of where or how it is likel to end. Read it if you have an open mind and like science fiction! Don't read it if anyone has ever called you a prude!

"Wilderness" by Robert Penn Warren, A Novel Of The Civil War and Early American Immigration

"Wilderness" is a 1961 novel by Robert Penn Warren. The protagonist is a Jewish immigrant from Germany who has been born with a club foot but desires to immigrate to America and "fight for freedom". The story begins in his native country where he decides to leave for America after realizing he has little hope for a good future at home. His father was killed in riots in Berlin while fighting against government troops. He has been supported and assisted by an uncle who is also a rabbi. As Adam Rosenzweig prepares to leave, he is given several religious objects by his uncle which he carries, but uses little, during the length of the novel. The uncle also provides Adam with the address of an old friend who had previously emigrated to America and become wealthy as a businessman after beginning his life as a pack trader. Pack traders, many of whom were Jewish, traveled the roads of America carrying and selling a multitude of common household items in large backpacks. In order for Adam to get to America, he signs on with a human trafficker who is providing immigrants to both sides of the Civil War to fight as soldiers. The most important object Adam owns is a very well made leather boot which a cobbler friend made for him to help compensate for is club foot. While on the ship to America, the other men learn of Adam's disability and he becomes the "least of the least"on the ship since he is now known as being very unlikely to be accepted as a soldier. He is now forced to do the most menial chores aboard ship to compensate for his passage and the captain intends to actually prevent him from leaving the ship and retaining his as slave labor for the return voyage to Germany. But one of the crew gives Adam some advice just before the ship comes to port in New York which allows him to escape the vessel. He lands in New York with nothing and a very powerful scene ensues in which Adam, lost, alone, and hungry, finds the body of a black man hanging from a lamp post where he has been lynched in ongoing race riots. Adam finds himself the next day being dragged into one of those riots which is engaged in the murder of another black man. Adam finds himself being pursued by some of the rioters but manages to escape by running into the door of what turns out to be a house in which several black people are hiding. The rioters break in and Adam finds himself in the basement hiding in the dark where no one's race or color can be recognized. The rioters flood the basement and Adam finds himself being pulled above the waterline by a black man who turns out to be an employee of the man Adam was told to seek out when he got to New York. When the rioters disappear, the black man takes Adam, who is very ill, to the home of their benefactor, the rich Jewish trader. The trader has had a son killed in the Civil War and offers to make Adam his adopted son. Adam refuses the offer and is, instead, placed with a very abusive and coarse trader who needs a wagon driver to drive a wagon load of supplies south to sell to whichever troops of either side they might contact. The group consists of Adam, the trader Jed Hawksworth, and his black employee Mose who is actually an escaped slave as the book reveals in the long run. The three characters make a slow trip south to connect with fighting troops and are a truly odd collection of equally damaged characters who have simply fallen into each other's company. Mose, who has been savagely beaten by previous owners, becomes a friend of Adam but eventually kills Hawksworth and runs away. Adam, fearing that he will be blamed for the murder, buries Hawksworth in the woods, takes one of the wagons, and heads out to find Union troops which he can join to live out his dream of "fighting for freedom". I won't spoil the ending for you by fulling disclosing what happens from here on out. I will say that I have read several of Robert Penn Warren's books and this is just as good a novel as any the man who won two Pulitzer Prizes ever wrote. It addresses issues of war, racism, hatred, segregation, immigration, disability, and discrimination as well as any novel I have ever read. It is a powerful book which has fallen by the wayside of American Literature even though it is a fine piece of work by a man who should have been another of America's Novel winners. Robert Penn Warren is, in my opinion, just as great a writer as Hemingway, Steinbeck, Buck, or any other American who has ever been described as great. If you read the book, be forewarned that the novel does use the language of the time in which it was set and you will encounter several of the epithets which are not allowe in polite society today. But the novel is far greater than any of its detractors claim it to be simply because they are prejudiced against the language of America in the 1860's. Read it and you will see that I am correct.

"Stranger In A Strange Land" by Robert A. Heinlein, Reflections On A Rereading

My first reading of "Stranger In A Strange Land" must have taken place sometime shorty after it had originally been published in 1961. Until this rereading, I had never read the 1991 original uncut version which Robert A. Heinlein's wife had published after his death. This uncut version is about 60,000 words longer than the 1961 original published version. The difference in the word count apparently came about because the publisher felt that the manuscript was too long for the modern readership. The 1961 version was a massive hit with the reading public and quickly became ingrained into American culture both because of its literary quality and its truly unique story about a man known as "The Man From Mars" who is actually a human but born on Mars due to the fact that both his parents were members of the first Mars expedition from earth.The book and its story is similar in some ways to at least two other classics in the field of science fiction: "The Man Who Fell To Earth" by Kentucky born writer Walter Tevis,and the original first book in the Dune series by Frank Herbert. All three involve protagonists who arrive on earth or an earth like planet from outside the solar system, come to be somewhat or absolutely messianic figures, and untimately change the world around them. Since it has been so long after I had originally read the shorter version of the book, I cannot say much about the material which was deleted from the original and restored to the 1991 edition. The original version of the book brought two or three words or terms into common use in everyday spoken English. The most widely known of these words is "grok" which is a very widely applicable word for comprehension, understanding, or simply grasping the meaning of new information. Another new term which was introduced in the book was "Fair Witness" which is a term for a professional person whose work it is to be present at meetings, court proceedings, or other encounters between people and others with whom they might have some ongoing conflict. A Fair Witness is trained to verbatimly memorize every word which is spoken in their presence and, if necessary, to testify in a court about what actually happened in those encounters. A Fair Witness is literally a human recording device which is without error or falability. The book also described a contraption very much like a waterbed before the waterbed was invented. When the first patent attempt was made in the USA for a waterbed, it was initially denied under the judgment of the US Patent Office that the information from the book had constituted prior art as the office described it. It is likely that if Heinlein had chosen to contest that patent application and file his own application that he would have held the patent for the waterbed. The protagonist Valentine Michael Smith is the Mars born son of two US astronauts who traveled on that first Mars expedition while not married to each other and had Mike Smith out of wedlock and born on Mars. His conception and birth on Mars brings into play a legal concept on earth regarding rights of explorers in space to claim ownership to worlds they discover. Since Smith was the only survivor of that first expedition, it is claimed that he actually owns Mars and everything on it. But Martians, which is what Smith has been reared to be by his Martian caregivers, have no concept for personal property and Smith has no ideas about owning anything which would be meaningful to an ordinary earthling. Smith is originally placed in seclusion in a hospital by the planetary government on earth both to make it possible to control him, deprive him of his assets, and prevent him from having contact with anyone on earth who might interfere with the ongoing government effort to rob him of his alleged wealth. But a nurse, Jill Boardman, who meets and befriends him helps him escape from the hospital and eventually takes him to the truly unique home of Jubal Harshaw who is both a doctor and an attorney. He is also a worldwide public figure and author, incredibly intelligent and adept at the practice of law and become endeared to Smith and Boardman. They gradually learn that Smith has truly unique powers including the ability to use nothing more than his mind to make literally anything or anyone to "discorporate" or disappear permanently from the earth. His mental powers are truly prodigious and he quickly devours all the written information he can be supplied about earth and everything on it. Later in the book, Michael and Jill decide to leave the protection of Harshaw's home and begin to ramble around the country. Along the way, they join a traveling circus as a sideshow act and Smith uses mild examples of his Martian powers to perform "tricks" in the sideshow. But he is seen as a typical sidewhow fraud and is fired for his failure to attract good audiences. They are also invited to a church service by a major figure in the one dominant church on earth which is also controlled by one worldwide government. As a result of being exposed to the religion of that church Smith decides to start a church of his own, teach his mental powers to its members, and he becomes a cult leader and/or a messiah figure. His church is rapidly growing and putting the strangle hold of the original church at risk. That church also controls the government and the great majority of the masses on earch. As a result, Valentine Michael Smith becomes the victim of an assassination which is, of course, the most likely end of all messianic figures including Jesus Christ. The book is one of several in which Heinlein wrote in a fictional context about his somewhat unusual religous beliefs. Another such book is "Job: A Comedy of Justice". No matter which version of "Stranger In A Strange Land" you choose to read, you will find that it is one of the best books in all of science fiction and fantasy literature. But, I would strongly suggest that you choose to read the Unabridged Edition since it is the form in which Heinlein intended to publish the book before his editor and publisher overruled him.

"The Keeping Quilt" by Patricia Polacco, A Great Children's Book For Multi-cultural Education

 

Several months ago, I bought a fairly large collection of books from the estate of a retired school principal and this book was in that pile.  It is actually the second book I have read and written about in that purchase.  The other was "The Play Pretty Book", an Appalachian children's book which was produced by a Kentucky based educational non-profit and illustrated by Appalachian artist Tom Whitaker.  I read many different genres of literature and high quality children's literature is one of them.  This book, "The Keeping Quilt" was a winner of the Sydney Taylor Book Award from the Association of Jewish Libraries.  It was also a Carnegie Medal Honor Book.  This book is about a Russian Jewish family which immigrated to the United States with a little girl named Anna who is the great-grandmother of the narrator.  Anna has a much beloved babushka and dress which, naturally, become too small for her in time.  Her mother decided to invite the neighbor women in to hold a quilting bee and make a quilt from the babushka and dress so that Anna can keep something made from her treasured items. The quilt gets passed down from one little girl to another through several generations of the family throughout the life of the book.  

Since my real academic specialty is Appalachian Studies, let me say that this is a wonderful book to be used with Appalachian children since quilts and quilting hold such a special place in Appalachian Culture.  I grew up sleeping under what is called a "tacked quilt" which, instead of being sewn in regular stitches, has yarn "tacks" all over the body of the quilt.  The creator of such a quilt uses a darning needle and a skein of yarn and at uniform distances of about 4 inches in each direction passes the needle through the quilt twice at about the distance of a regular stitch, cuts off the yarn at about 3 inches and ties the two ends in a knot to make a "tack".  As I fell asleep at night, I would doze off holding and playing with the "tacks" on my quilt.  I have known many other Appalachian children who grew up the same way with "tacked quilts".  Thousands of Appalachian children grew up sleeping under regular patchwork quilts also.  The story of a quilt in this book will make a connection in the hearts and minds of most Appalachian children.  It is a great book for use in teaching Multi-cultural Education and Tolerance to young Appalachian children.  

Yes, this book is a bit aged having been published in 1988.  But it is also a timeless book about family, cultural traditions, expressions of love by elders doing things for young children, and quietly makes the point that the family are Jewish.  The book is published in 8 1/2" x 11" format, both written and illustrated by the author who actually wrote more than 50 children's books, and is a wonderful illustrator.  Her illustration style is unique in that most of the page areas are in black and white with only key areas or items in color.  I have included a page or two from the book here to demonstrate the illustration style which serves to strongly emphasize the importance of the key item in each page of the book. If you are a parent or teacher of kindergarten or first grade children, this is an excellent book to begin the discussion of religious tolerance with.  

"The Portable World Bible" Edited by Robert O. Ballou, Observations On A Book To Help Settle Some Conflicts

 

Many years ago, I was blessed to take an Introduction To World History course at Alice Lloyd College in Pippa Passes, Kentucky, under a man named Dr. Billy Rojas, Ph. D., who had come to ALC from the Chicago area as I recall.  Billy, as he preferred to known by everyone he knew, required that students in all his history courses buy, and actually read sections of this book.  Billy taught history from a viewpoint which was strongly focused on how religion and, particularly how differences in religion had influenced the flow of history over time.  This book is edited by Robert O. Ballou, according to his publisher, Penguin Random House, brought to countless contemporary readers much of the world’s religious thought, which he selected, interpreted, and arranged in view of modern man’s quest for ultimate truths and values. His book, "The Portable World Bible" which has been in constant publication since its original publication in 1944, and is constantly relied on by students in many disciplines along with thousands of ministers, rabbis, imams, and priests.  The book is broken into seven sections with each being composed of many of the key scriptures from most of the world's leading religions.  It is an excellent resource for anyone who is interested in world religious beliefs, conflicts between believers in two or more of those beliefs, or simply anyone who wants to learn more about any particular major religion. 

The sections are labeled The Hindu, The Buddhist, The Parsi, The Jew And The Christian, The Moslem, The Confucianist, and The Taoist.The book actually begins with a General Introduction and each of the sections begins with a specific introduction of about 10 to 15 pages.  While a detractor could make the arguments that the book is a bit aged for today's world, or that it omits a few religions which have significant numbers of adherents worldwide, it is still a wonderful book for anyone who wants to actually understand how the religions of the world interact, conflict, and, oftentimes, agree.  I have depended on it for some fast answers ever since the first time I ever read it in Billy Rojas' history class.  I also have a friend of twenty years who is a minister in a rather conservative form of Christianity and a graduate of a seminary who also depends on it.  For me, it is just as productive as any other book I can find when I need fast answers about key texts in any of the religions it discusses.  Rarely will anyone write or edit a book which will still be in print more than 75 years after its initial publication. And I believe that this book will still be in use and publication in another 75 years. It is especially useful when we consider the perpetual, and currently volatile conflicts in the Middle East which are rooted almost entirely in religious differences based on three major religions whose most sacred sites are in a markedly small geographic territory in which their claimed sites often overlap.  If you don't know about this book, at least look at a copy in a book store or library and decide if it is useful to you.                 

Some Thoughts About Separation Of Church And State!

 

Several events, incidents, occurrences, and news articles over the last 5 or so years, and especially the last 16 months have prompted me to write on this blog about something which, so far as I remember I have never done, interactions on social media, only one kind of which I ever use or ever have.  That one type of social media is Facebook and I have been induced twice to leave it for extended periods of time, one in 2017 for the entire month of October.  Admittedly, I was on a long road trip then and didn't want the distraction.  And in the last several months, I took another month off, without ever signing on to Facebook, simply because I was sick of all their targeted and unblockable ads.  But this post is actually prompted by one little interaction I had on Facebook this morning and the recent trend in quite a few conservative churches in America, and especially in the south, to support Vladimir Putin's invasion of the totally innocent country of Ukraine.  I had noticed some of it myself and got into a series of messages with a Facebook friend in Western North Carolina who has also been very concerned about the amount of this insanity he has seen in his own area.  He sent me a link to this article about so-called "Christian" groups which have been praising Vladimir Putin.  The article talks about Franklin Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelical Association, which he now controls, and his contacts with and praise for Putin.  The article also addresses the World Congress of Families, another fairly right wing "Christian" organization which has actually partnered with Russian officials who have been sanctioned by the US government.  Please note that if you want to go to these two groups' websites to see what they believe you are free to do so.  But I have not and will not add links to those groups on this blog because of their works with or in praise of Putin and Russia which are helping him in his ultimate goal of destroying America, American Democracy, and general worldwide Democracy.  If you want to know what they think, find it yourself.  

 But, the incident on Facebook this morning involved a woman on my Facebook friends list who made a statement that she was unfriending and blocking people she referred to as "atheists" because of their beliefs.  Her actual statement was:  "unfriending multiple atheists who insist on being rude and insulting to those who believe. Not putting up with it."  I was instantly reminded of a Bible quote which I admit I had to find through a joint Google search and a search of Bible Gateway in the King James Version which is the only translation of the Bible I ever bother to read since I firmly believe that the more translations away from the KJV you get the farther you simultaneously get from the original intent of the writers of the particular book of the Bible you are reading. 

 

In the interest of honesty, I will say that I am not particularly religious although I firmly believe in some form of creation by a power greater than the ordinary humans who attempt to be the self-appointed mouthpieces of whichever "God" they believe in. I will also say, for the sake of honesty, that I have actually read the Bible thirteen times "kiver to kiver"  as the Old Regular Baptist preachers I knew in my youth used to recommend. Additionally, I have read major sections of the basic texts of several other world religions and was blessed to know a man named Dr. Billy Rojas, Ph. D. in my youth who was a history professor at Alice Lloyd College and used "The Portable World Bible" as a supplementary text in every course he taught in order to help his students understand that various religions have greatly influenced world  history over the centuries and that in many cases that influence was markedly negative just as it is in America today. 

 Now that I have prefaced what else I am about to say  the remainder of what I have to say about the adverse influence a few million people like the woman who partially prompted this writing have on the general public, let's get back to the gist of what I have to say. You will also find, if you do an honest comparison of many modern translations of the Bible, that quite often those modern translations have inserted words, phrases, and meanings into the text which are in direct conflict with the older translations and the actual meaning of the original wording of the various ancient texts on which the Bible is based. As a result, it is always best to read the Bible, any version of the Bible, with a copy of "Strong's Exhaustive Concordance" nearby. And you should always recognize, admit, and accept that there were numerous writers of the individual books of the Bible in at least three languages, on at least two continents, and at least a few hundred years apart.  The particular quote I was thinking of in regard to the aforementioned type of deliberate alteration of the Bible is:

Second Timothy KJV 2:24-26- 24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, 25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

I appended that quotation to her post along with this comment "I suspect that if you are really seriously religious you should actually do what the Bible tells you to do which seems pretty rare today from most self-described "Christians". And I'm not religious at all, but I have read the Bible and understand it well enough to confront those who claim to know but don't. Actually as I said previoiusly, I have read the entire Bible, "kiver to kiver" as my ancestors used to say thirteen times but not lately, hence the need to look those verses up.  The willingness of people today to use whatever interpretation of the Bible they like (generally their own or that of someone they like better than the Bible), can be traced to TRAITOR Trump and whatever most recent bizarre, illogical, and total unsupported by fact things he has said. Over the last 9 years especially since June 16, 2015, when TRAITOR Trump announced his delusion that he believed he was fit to become the president of the United States our country has steadily deteriorated morally and ethically while the people in the forefront of that deterioration claim they are doing what they do because of their religion which they can never seem to support with the actual words of the Bible. These self-described "Christians" have become more and more influenced by the Big Lie, actually thousands of Big Lies, from TRAITOR Trump to the degree that they believe a country and a leader, in the case of Putin and Russia, which have murdered, isolated, imprisoned, and endlessly sought to destroy Christianity is actually working to help them restore Christianity all over the world.  They also deny the fact that Putin actually stole the 2016 US election in order to install his stool pigeon, the TRAITOR Trump in the White House in order to destroy America. They also claim to believe that it will happen again in 2024.  The level of willful ignorance and willful blindness on the part of these people is astonishing to me.  I have written about that aspect of it on this blog many times but this effort to aggrandize two of the most evil men on earth despite their public crimes, violation of all ten commandments, and outright murder of at least a dozen former KGB/FSB agents who were involved in the contacts between Putin and TRAITOR Trump absolutely astounds me.  

 Anyone on earth, when confronted by some self-appointed spokesperson for "God", their individual "God", should listen to that person's arguments very closely, examine them even more closely, and never accept any of their quotes and misquotes of the Bible, or any other religious text, as "Gospel" until you have verified it with a close examination of the Bible,preferably the King James Version, since it is the oldest version  currently in widespread use in America today.  And do that examination with a jaundiced eye and "Strong's Exhaustive Concordance" in hand.  probably refer to this famous quotation from the Bible, which almost no one seems to remember today,  before shooting off your mouth:  

 5And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. ⁶ But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. ⁷ But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. ⁸ Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.  (Matthew 6:5-8, KJV)

And, all of these people who claim to want to turn the United States into a "Christian Nation", especially those who claim they want to do so "because that is how it was founded" need to read some history also, accurate, factual, American History as close to the Founding Fathers as possible and realize that one of the primary reasons Americans fought for independence in the American Revolution was to end the domination of their lives by the Anglican Church, more commonly known as the Church of England, and to create a country where the practice, or lack of practice of religion of any or all kinds was solely up to the practitioner and not connected in any way to the government.  That is what is called Separation of Church and State and it was, and still is, one of the most important building blocks on which this country was built.  The fastest way to destroy democracy in America would be to allow churches, any churches, to dominate life and the government.  As soon as we force all to practice one religion over all others, or we refuse to allow anyone to practice their religion of choice, whatever that religion may be, we have begun to destroy democracy.   

Hawley Warrens, Old Regular Baptist Minister, 1889--1977

 

Hawley Warrens was a long term minister of the Old Regular Baptist Church, New Salem Association, and served as the long term moderator of the Steele's Creek Old Regular Baptist Church.  He was born in Floyd County Kentucky at Minnie in 1889 and died at Hi Hat in 1977.  But he had lived the majority of his life on a farm at Dema in Knott County about a mile and a half south of the Floyd/Knott County line on Right Beaver Creek.  I apologize for the poor quality of the photo which I have located in the obituary in the Floyd County Times.  He was the son of Whitt Warrens and Nance Moore Warrens.  His first wife was Caroline Moore Warrens and they had eight children, five boys and three girls.  Caroline died very young in her middle forties and Hawley then married Mandy Layne who also died before Hawley. He was also married later in life to Dorothy Little Warrens. He joined the Old Regular Baptist Church in 1914 when he was about 25.  He had been a member of the church for about 63 years at the time of his death.  About 5 years after he joined the church, he was ordained as a minister in 1919 and continued to preach and work as an officer of the church for most of the remainder of his life.  His funeral was conducted at the Old Beaver New Salem Association Building on Left Beaver Creek in Floyd County near Minnie.  Due to his long service to the church and association, his funeral was attended by large numbers of people from the entire area served by the New Salem Association.  He had been one of the best loved and most respected members and ministers of the New Salem Association.  He was buried in the Turner Cemetery at Dema near the farm where he had lived most of his life. 

Elder Raymond Howard, Old Regular Baptist Preacher, 1911-1963

 

I have written in several other blog posts about a few Old Regular Baptist preachers, mostly from the New Salem Association which is centered in Knott, Floyd, Perry, and Letcher counties in Kentucky.  Previous posts have been about Clabe Mosley, perhaps the most well known preacher in the history of the New Salem Association, and E. Hawk Moore who was a close friend of my father Ballard Hicks in the Wayland area of Floyd County and was also a lifelong member of the UMWA and worked regularly as the Burial Committeeman in UMWA Local 5895 in Wayland.  This post will be about Elder Raymond Howard whose name I have known all my life but whom I did not know as well in my childhood as I did some other preachers within the New Salem Association.  This blog post will be based largely on the obituary of Raymond Howard from the 1963 edition of "The Minutes of The New Salem Association of Old Regular Baptists" which I have been fortunate enough to borrow a copy  from someone I know.  

 

Raymond Howard was born October 14, 1911, and died July 20, 1963.  His obituary was written by Elder Burton Howard and Brother Dillard Howard.  They list his children as Angus Neal Howard and Reva Howard Francis.  His wife's name was Mattie Slone Howard.  They state in the obituary that "Brother Raymond was loved by practically all men who knew him" and, as I recall, that is factual.  I do remember that he was well respected among the Old Regular Baptists in Eastern Kentucky and in the greater community as well.  They also state that he served as the Assistant Moderator of the Ball Branch Church at Mousie, Kentucky.  He apparently lived in the Mousie area and is buried there in the Howard Cemetery along with his wife Mattie.  Presumably, the James Dillard Howard who is buried in the same cemetery is the person who co-authored the obituary.  It also appears likely that Dillard Howard was his brother due to a sentence in the obituary which states "but I feel that Mother will have someone now to sleep with her in the old cemetery."  The obituary further describes him as "a wonderful singer, preacher, and he wonderful in prayer."  His memorial on Find A Grave also lists the inscription on his tombstone as being "A minister of the Regular Baptist Church."  The obituary does not state the number of years he was a member or minister of the church as those obituaries frequently do. 

The Danger Of "Imposter Christianity" In America Today

I received an e-mail this morning with a link from my cousin, more like a brother, Jack Terry which had a link to a news story from CNN on it with the title "An Imposter Christianity" Is Threatening American Democracy".  I opened the link, read about two paragraphs and hit "Reply All" since Jack had also sent the message to some other family members, at least one of which has been a member or a fairly right wing radical church with a twisted interpretation of the Bible.  The message below is what I said to those people including the family member who has been sorely mislead by her church and its minister.

I read the first paragraph of this article and realized I didn’t need to read the rest, not because I don’t agree with what it says but because I knew several years ago what it says and that one of the greatest dangers to democracy in the United States is posed by people who cloak themselves in a distorted, hateful, and evil misrepresentation of what they lie to the world and call Christianity.  These same people supported the TRAITOR Trump, his many co-conspirators who are also running for all levels of offices across the country, and making a well organized attempt to destroy the country under their twisted, criminal, and evil lies which they shield with blatant misrepresentations of the Bible, or at least their selected portions of the Bible.  They are charlatans, criminals, traitors, and enemies of the United States Of America, the US Constitution, and all they represent.  This was already beginning before Putin and Russia stole the US Presidential Election in 2016 in order to install a Russian Owned TRAITOR in the White House.  But Putin and his hackers who managed to steal an 80,000 vote total lead in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania where smart enough to realize they could use TRAITOR Trump to further mislead these pseudo-Christians into helping them destroy America.  Yes, an American election has been stolen, in 2016, not in 2020 when President Biden became the first duly, legally elected President in four years.  Putin stole that election for a TRAITOR he and Russia had owned for at least 40 years.  And today, especially since the TREASON, insurrection, and domestic terrorism of January 6^th, America is facing the greatest threat to Democracy in our history and it is being driven by these TRAITORS who shield themselves behind their blatant misrepresentations of the Bible. 

Let me give you who claim to be Christians a little reading assignment.  Take a Bible, preferably a red letter edition of the King James Bible which has the words attributed to Jesus in red print, and do the following. 

1. Begin in the New Testament with the Gospel attributed to the Apostles of Jesus and read Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and Revelation.
2. Every time you come to one of the sections which is attributed to Jesus or one of the Apostles as a direction to their followers, the real Christians, and ask yourself, did TRAITOR Trump ever do that?  The answer will always be NO. 
3. When you get to Revelation and find those areas of the text which are purported to be the signs of the coming of the Anti-Christ, read it carefully and ask yourself could that apply to the TRIATOR Trump.  The answer will always be YES. 
4. When you have figured this out and realized I am correct, if you still believe you are a Christian or want to be a Christian, take yourself as far away from these charlatans as possible, find a church which does not support TRAITOR Trump and his many co-conspirators and does not engage in politics, and firmly supports the Separation Of Church And State and follow what the Bible actually says.
5. If you ever falter in doing that and need a refresher course in what I have just told you, go to the link below and read it again and doe exactly what it says. 

 

http://myappalachianlife.blogspot.com/2020/09/a-reading-assignment-for-self-professed.html

 

Roger

I'd like to invite all of my readers to do the same thing.  

 

Funeral Home Fans And Funeral Memorial Cards--Two Appalachian Traditions

 I recently posted a small post in Facebook about funeral home memorial cards which was my rapid response to a clue on "Jeopardy" the day before about the poem "Crossing The Bar" by Alfred Lord Tennyson which has been used on the back of funeral home memorial cards in Appalachia for many years.  That post was very actively and positively received by numerous people in Facebook groups devoted to Appalachia.  It had never occurred to me to write a post about these two topics despite the fact that I have been saving/collecting both items for quite a few years.  I have probably a couple hundred funeral memorial cards, all from funerals or visitations I have attended over the years.  I have also recently acquired a small collection of funeral home fans both from funeral homes where I have attended services and from a few small yard sales I have attended.  Both these items, especially the fans, are less often seen than in the past.  Funeral memorial cards were present at nearly every funeral I ever attended until about ten or twenty years ago.  Funeral home fans became less common when the small rural churches across Appalachia nearly all acquired air conditioning.  Nearly all Appalachian funeral homes for many years used the fans as advertising and always left a stack in every church where they held a funeral.  Many of the older Old Regular Baptist, United Baptist, Freewill Baptist, Holiness, and Pentecostal churches across the region still have some number of the fans which are frequently still used even if electricity and air conditioning are present.  But most funeral homes have stopped using them as a form of advertising.  Historically, the fans nearly always had a front side which was some generic religious themed reprodution of a religious painting or photograph in color, sometimes a photo of the funeral home building, but more often a painting of one of the more popular depictions of  Jesus Christ, either on the cross, the Last Supper, as the Good Shepherd, or arising from the tomb.  The reverse side was almost always plain white with the name, address, and telephone number of the funeral home involved.  The fans were usually a thin piece of somewhat stiff paper about 8" x 8" with a flat wooden handle stapled to the fan which was about 1" x 8".  It was also possible to see the same fans from the same printers being used by both local businesses and political candidates but they are less common.  I do have a few political fans in my collection.  

This first fan is from the funeral home with which I grew up as a child, The Hall Funeral Home of Martin, Kentucky, and shows Jesus Christ as The Good Shepherd on the front which is one of the most common scenes to be shown on funeral home fans.  

This next fan is from a funeral home, the Thornburg Funeral Home, and a community, Farmland, Indiana, in which I have never been.  I located the fan at a small yard sale in Stanton, Kentucky, where I also bought several other funeral home fans and a couple of antique books and a corn sheller.  It shows a typical Last Supper scene with a typical advertisement for the funeral home on the back. 

 

The funeral memorial card below is from the funeral of a neighbor, Flora Cook Isaac, and has a photo of the deceased on the front which is a common choice for funeral memorial cards.  

The interior of Flora Cook Isaac's memorial card is a typical two-sided print statement of birth and death dates, survivors, clergy, burial site, etc. and the left side of the print is the 23rd Psalm which is also a very common inclusion either on the inside left of the rear of these memorial cards. 

This next memorial card is from the funeral of my good friend and former auction ring man, Dewey Rogers.  The front is a depiction of the pick and shovel of a coal miner, which he had been in his younger days.

 

 

 

I will be adding several more photos to this blog post over the next few days due to a current problem with converting scans and photographs on the equipment I am using.  If you like what you have seen so far, please return in a couple of days and I will added to the contents of the photograph section. 

Observations On Attending Serpent Handling Churches

Two Churches In Two States: An Ethnographic Observation Among Serpent Handling Believers

The morning of September 11, 2004, began the way most of my Saturday mornings began at that time.  I awoke at 5am and worked briefly on the computer before cutting my hair to its usual skin tight burr, showered, and awoke my wife, Candice, who is bound to a wheelchair, to assist her with her early morning routines before leaving the house to conduct a court ordered visit in the home of a client and then drive to a graduate class at Lindsey Wilson College’s branch campus program in Jackson, Kentucky. As I left the house, I inserted the Ralph Stanley “Saturday Night” CD into my player and listened to the opening song “Mountain Folk”, one of my favorites, as I thought about the weekend ahead and the people I was about to meet.

 I attended the morning session of the class as usual before leaving the all day session at 11:30am to return home to prepare for a trip to a small, rural community in Western North Carolina.  By the time Candice and I left home, I had already been up 8 hours and driven over a hundred miles.  We were on our way to an area just north of Asheville to attend the annual homecoming meeting of a tiny, but somewhat famous, serpent handling church, at the invitation of the pastor who is the brother of a deceased signs following preacher who died after receiving a rattlesnake bite while preaching in a different church in an adjacent state.  That deceased preacher’s wife had also died of a rattlesnake bite received in a similar  church in a third state about five years earlier.  Their five children had become orphans upon the deaths of their parents and were being cared for by their father’s surviving parents who were also signs following believers.  The grandparents continued to handle serpents as did their sole surviving son  and his wife.  I felt honored that I was about to meet these people about whom I had read so much and yet, somehow, knew that I knew so little.  I state for the record at this point that I have chosen to leave these people and all the serpent handling believers I have known anonymous for their own privacy and peace of mind.  

I left West Liberty, Kentucky, and drove south through Salyersville, Prestonsburg, and Pikeville toward Western North Carolina, where we intended to stay in a motel about 20 miles from the church.  From Prestonsburg to North Carolina, much of the route was along US 23 and wove through the mountains of Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina in settings which reminded me of my childhood as a native Appalachian and helped to prepare me for this initial experience in a world about which I had been told since childhood, the world of the signs followers or “snake handlers”, as their detractors so often refer to them.  It is important to state that such a misnomer is just that, nothing more, nothing less.  Serpent handling believers is more appropriate nomenclature since their actions are based on their personal interpretation of Mark 16: 17-18 from the King James Bible.  To these people the poisonous reptiles which they sometimes handle in church as a sign of their faith are quite simply a sacramental object much as the bread and wine in a communion service.

We arrived at our motel in North Carolina to learn that the city had been flooded and was without water which the reservations clerk had not told my wife when she made the reservation the day before.  I looked at the time and realized I had only an hour and a half before church began 25 miles away.  The clerk informed me that the water would likely be on that night or the next morning and I chose to stay in the motel.  I did not have time to drive from motel to motel searching for a wheelchair accessible room suitable for my wife which had running water when my first opportunity to be an ethnographic participant-observer of the signs following world was at stake. 

We checked in and quickly changed clothes to go to the church.  I helped Candice to put on a long green dress, hose, and plain black dress shoes before putting on my own simple blue dress shirt and white khaki pants. It was our intent to respect the customs and beliefs of these people and to dress in a similar manner to the clothes they wear on a daily basis.  We drove to the little courthouse town near which the church is located, got last minute directions at the fire house, and proceeded to the church.  Our first trip up the holler revealed a small, treated wood church in an idyllic setting.  But no one was visible in the parking lot.

 Just down the hill, at the next driveway, several dozen cars were parked, an open tent was set up, and tikki torches burned.  We turned in the driveway and were met by a young man who looked baffled when we asked for the pastor by name.  It seemed that this gathering was either a party or a wedding and we decided to travel to a gas station at the forks of the road for more precise directions.  At the forks of the road, we saw a man of about seventy with hair cropped as short as my own and a plain shirt only slightly darker blue than mine standing outside his car.  On the hunch that he might be a member of the congregation, I asked where I might find the pastor.  The man introduced himself by name and told me he knew where the person I was seeking would be in about thirty minutes.  We followed him back to the church and this time found the pastor and his family standing on the little covered porch.  I recognized him instantly from the many photos I had seen in books about their religion. 

We introduced ourselves and the pastor recognized my name from conversations we had previously.  The pastor and the man who had led me to the church shook hands, hugged each other, and obviously were well pleased to be together again.  They spoke of the time since they had seen each other, talked of growing older, and of events that had transpired in their lives.  It suddenly struck me, when the pastor smiled and said “The Lord has been good to me”, that this was a unique and resilient man who loved his God and lived his faith.  No man on the face of the earth had more reason to doubt his beliefs than this man and yet, in the first three minutes I had been in his presence, he had reaffirmed his faith in the justness and fairness of God.  He had lost his only brother and sister-in-law, as well as numerous friends, to religiously based snake bites and poison ingestion, had been involved in a long drawn out custody battle, along with his parents, in their effort to retain custody of their grandchildren, and yet he freely and happily reaffirmed that “The Lord has been good to me”. 

As the two men caught up on recent events in their lives, I noticed a small cemetery at the edge of the hill below the church.  It contained several graves shaded by trees, planted with Hosta, azalea, and rhododendron.  It was a quiet, peaceful, and even idyllic setting.  I walked to the graves and began reading markers as I have done since childhood when I was growing up near three small such cemeteries in Knott County Kentucky.  The first name to strike me was a man who had died after drinking strychnine in a church service.  I realized that, finally, I was standing on some of the most hallowed ground of the signs following world and I was glad to be there.  I knew I had come to the right place to learn the truth about these people.

Shortly afterward, the congregation began to trickle in from the road.  They were men in plain shirts and simple pants like my own, women in long dresses and long hair, children who had learned to obey their parents and proved it as they went to their seats.  They were clean, neat, orderly, well mannered, respectful, and obviously deeply religious.  They always shook hands, often breathed “Praise the Lord” as they greeted each other, and moved to their seats as several musicians including the pastor and his wife began to tune instruments.  There were several guitars, an organ, a set of drums, and numerous tambourines which found ready hands among the congregation. 

“Are you happy to be in the House of the Lord?” asked the pastor several times as he walked through the crowd shaking hands, greeting friends and strangers, and making even me, a visiting writer new to this world, feel welcome.  A common, simultaneous prayer was offered in rising and falling cadences and two young women in long hair, long denim dresses, and measured modesty went to the microphones at the front of the church where they began to sing with their backs to the congregation.  The music began in a driving, syncopated rhythm which often vibrated the seat beneath me.  The congregation joined in freely.  The songs changed from one to another as the music remained the same.  People began to dance in the spirit.  “Hallelujah” and “Praise The Lord” could be heard all over the house.  I was in the House of the Lord and I felt honored to be there. 

Eventually, the pastor arose to preach in a structured, well thought out sermon about obedience of the servant to the master and of the wife to the husband.  Suddenly he reached behind the lectern where an unseen serpent box lay and brought out a rattle snake about 3 feet long and held it, much like an offering, as he passed behind the altar continuing to preach.  “Amen” and “Hallelujah”, as well as “Preach it brother” and “Help him, Lord” could be heard rising intermittently throughout the congregation. 

The sermon ended and he called on several people to testify, even eventually calling on me.  I simply said, “Thank you for opening your door to a stranger”.  The service came to an end with a few songs of a less strident nature and the crowd left in the same manner in which they arrived with hand shakes, gentle words, and a few “We’ll see you in the mornings”. 

As I drove back toward my motel, the cars from the party next door mixed into those leaving the church, and the believers reentered the world.  In the motel room without water, eating a hot pickled sausage because the restaurants had no water either, I realized it was nearly midnight and I was not tired.  I knew I had come to the right place.

Sunday morning, September 12, 2004, we awoke at about 8am, found a small stream of cold water pouring from the faucet in the sink and none in the shower.  I realized that, in the overall scheme of life, this was a minor inconvenience.  Candice used bottled water to wash her hair.   I shaved in the sink and each of us used a wash cloth to perform the minimum ablutions before getting back in the van to go to church.  I stopped at the motel office and argued only briefly with the manager who refused to give any discount for the lack of water and said “I have a meeting in one hour” as I left the motel.

I drove eagerly back to the church and found only the pastor’s family there ahead of us.  I mentioned our motel inconvenience to the preacher and inquired if Candice’s blue jeans and dachshund house slippers were inappropriate for church.  He assured me that they were not and I began to help him and his sons set up a large tent for the dinner on the grounds. 

The next person to arrive was a well-known signs following preacher from Newport, Tennessee, with whom I had also been corresponding recently.  We introduced ourselves and finalized plans for Candice and me to follow him and his wife back to their home before attending services at their church in Newport that evening.  He also began to help with the tent and the crowd began to arrive.  As each family arrived, the labor became less, a series of tables beside the church grew steadily in the food they held, and the spirit of the previous evening began to multiply even before the service began.  Several congregants carried in serpent boxes of wood with hinged Plexiglas lids and arranged them side by side in front of the altar.

The service began in much the same way as the night before with a common prayer, and the music drove to what seemed to be even greater stridency.  Congregants began to dance in the spirit; a few began to speak in tongues, a young minister from Harlan, Kentucky, delivered a sermon which was fiery, exhortative, and voluble.  Once again, the pastor initiated the handling of serpents by bringing out the same rattlesnake of the night before.  But this time, several others also joined in the activity and several copperheads were also passed from hand to hand. 

The music and dancing vibrated the floors, seats, and walls of the little church.  Joy could be seen, heard, felt, and nearly touched. Adrenaline could be sensed all round the room. Several people went forward to be prayed for and have hands laid on them.  A young woman of about thirty began to dance in the spirit, went to the altar for anointing oil, and finally came to my wife Candice in her wheelchair.  Kneeling before Candice, the woman wept freely, gently removed the dachshund house slippers from each of her feet, and slowly, gently, thoroughly, lovingly caressed each foot and lower leg speaking softly worded prayers of supplication and healing.  I found myself crying profusely and the man who sat beside me said or did nothing allowing me to live within myself and the moment.  The woman gently replaced the dachshund house slippers on Candice’s  feet, and rose to pass her hands over my wife’s entire body before returning to the altar.  Then she opened a fire bottle, had it lit by the minister from Harlan and passed it along both hands and arms as she danced in front of the altar.  The minister finally took the bottle of fire from her, handled it for awhile himself, blew out the flame, and replaced it on the altar.  The young woman returned to her seat in front of me where she continued to sing and dance for several minutes.  Eventually my crying ceased, the service ended with another handling of the serpents, and the singing of songs such as “Sometimes I Feel Like Heaven’s Come Down”. 

As I walked outside to the dinner on the grounds, I suddenly realized that I know what Jim Birckhead, a tenured professor at Charles Sturt University in Australia who researched signs followers for more than thirty years, meant when he stated to me recently that he misses “being able to attend spirit filled services”.  The food was abundant, well cooked, and freely given.  Fellowship and discussion of the services and signs following beliefs continued until, at last, Candice and I said goodbye to our new friends, got into our van, and followed the Cocke County pastor across the state line to his home in Tennessee.

The winding, pristine drive across the mountains into Tennessee was the ideal setting to deescalate from the powerful, emotional experience of the service.  We crossed the French Broad River several times on US 25, passed through the little town of Hot Springs, encountered a street called Serpentine Way which seemed somehow appropriate, and finally found ourselves on the front porch of this second pastor. 

This particular man has spent much of his life attending and preaching in signs following churches and has collected a vast amount of articles, books, and photographs about the practices.  He carried several large binders of material to the porch where we shared and discussed it.  Eventually, he took me to the small, double locked outbuilding where he keeps his serpents.  We discussed serpent catching, the police intervention imposed on signs followers in his native Cocke County, and techniques for keeping serpents alive in a Tennessee  winter. 

He showed me his collection of serpents, serpent boxes, and a winter den which is dug below the frost line and lined with a large section of ceramic drain pipe.  Finally, he placed a large copperhead in a locked serpent box and we prepared to go to his church a few miles away.  As he made the final preparations to leave, he set the copperhead in the serpent box on the porch near Candice’ feet in the dachshund house slippers.  We walked back out in the yard and he showed me the rats he raises to feed his serpents while Candice watched the caged copperhead near her feet.  Before we left the house, the preacher went inside one last time to retrieve a handmade Appalachian doll which he made as a gift for Candice.  Today it sits on our mantle and has been christened in his honor.

The preacher, his wife, Candice, and I traveled the few miles to his little church in a setting nearly as idyllic as that in North Carolina.  We walked over the church grounds, looked at a second collection of memorabilia in the church and talked about signs following beliefs until 7pm, the scheduled time for services to begin.  No one else had arrived and I wondered if this minister would continue to talk to us or begin a service.  Earlier in the day, he had told me that attendance was not strong in his church and blamed it on the police attitude in Cocke County.  He stated that he continued to “show up and keep the doors open”.

But, at the stroke of 7pm, this solitary signs following minister, stepped behind the pulpit and said, “It’s time to start the service.”  The four of us sang, none well or melodiously, “Amazing Grace” and “I’ll Fly Away”, our four voices joined in a weak, discordant, sometimes faltering choir and then the preacher’s wife, with her back modestly turned toward the congregation, sang a few other songs which Candice and I did not know.  Her husband stood, prayed, and began to preach from the sixth chapter of Revelations and delivered a full sermon in which he also briefly handled the copperhead.  We sang another song, the preacher said a prayer and the four of us walked out into the warm Tennessee night to say goodbye.  As we drove toward the interstate, Candice said suddenly, “You know, I think that even if we hadn’t been here, he would still have preached.”.

As I wrote these notes, I cried once again just as freely as I had when the young woman in North Carolina placed the anointing oil on Candice’ feet.  I may well never fully understand everything to which I have been exposed in these past two days.  But I do know, without a doubt, that these people are sincere, deeply religious believers who support their beliefs with their lives on a daily basis and the world is a better place because they are here.  I also know that I am a better man for having come to know them.  I have now come to know family members of three people who all died of snakebites received in church services about five years apart.  The five children of one of pair of those people are orphans who are cared for by their surviving grandparents who continue to handle serpents to this day as do their sole surviving son  and his wife.  I felt honored that I was about to meet these people about whom I had read so much and yet, somehow, knew that I knew so little.  

In the seventeen years since this unusual weekend of ethnographic study, I came to the decision to not reveal the names, personal details, or residence information about any of the serpent handling believers I have met.  I now no longer spend time among them and never completed a book I had been working on about them primarily because I realized, over time, that they have suffered far too much at the hands of both the media and researchers because of their beliefs.  They are ordinary, hard working people just about like all their neighbors around them.  They raise families, hold down ordinary jobs, strive to achieve the same dreams most of the rest of us seek.  They simply choose to interpret several key verses of the Bible differently than the majority of their peers.  They also choose to literally place their lives on the line for their beliefs on most of the occasions when they attend church.  One of the serpent handling preachers who was present at that North Carolina church when I attended the meeting described in this paper has died since from a rattlesnake bite.  In the time I knew him, I came to respect him for his dedication to his beliefs and knew full well that in the event he suffered a serious serpent bite in church he would never agree to be transported to a hospital.  He fulfilled that expectation on my part by returning to his home the night he suffered his fatal bite and died with his family and friends praying with him and for him in his bedroom. 

I do not make any judgments about these people or their beliefs and I place no negative opinions on them.  They are loyal to their religion and view a fatal serpent bite as an opportunity to be rewarded in Heaven for their faith on earth.  I cannot say they are right.  I will not say they are wrong.  They are simply people who hold beliefs which are different from those held by most of us who are in the majority.  They are to be respected, not shunned or belittled.  They should be allowed to practice their unique religious beliefs under the protection of the United States Constitution just as everyone else is.  They are no better or no worse than you or I. 

Copyright 2021 by Roger D. Hicks