Serpent on the Cross: Death, Turmoil, Notoriety Plague Snake Handling Church In Small Eastern Tennessee Community

Virgil Hawkins gave up a 17-year Army career in 1976 to return to his East Tennessee homestead to run the family farm, a promise he made to his dying father. Hawkins becomes involved with a rural church which practices snake handling as part of its belief system. Hawkins eventually becomes the church pastor and continues the snake handling practices, much to the chagrin of his teenage son, Jimbo, who finds himself in total disagreement with his father’s religious beliefs. This creates a major emotional conflict as Jimbo’s friends ridicule his father and family (his mom and sister support the snake handling rituals). After several snakebite deaths in the church, the governor becomes upset over the growing national bad publicity brought about by the church. The governor puts pressure on the Cocke County sheriff to shut down the church, but the sheriff has been a Hawkins friend since childhood and is reluctant to enforce the law. The governor persists and the sheriff is forced to act. The issue becomes wider as the ACLU and various church groups around the country join the fight, creating a philosophical, spirtual, legal and sociological battle of Biblical beliefs.