Salvation on Sand Mountain
Dennis Covington writes about the snake handling rituals that go on in Scottsboro, Alabama, in March on 1992 he calls it Salvation on Sand Mountain. While going to the services held at the churches, Covington realizes that he is not only doing a story on other people's religions, but that he is also discovering his own religion. Covington creates feelings of sympathy and disgust for the reader while he talks about snake handling in southern churches. Through Covington's eyes the reader is exposed to his spiritual journey, family, and southern beliefs about snake handling.Covington's spiritual journey throughout Salvation on Sand Mountain was shocking. It makes one think that the phrase "everything happens for a reason" really is true. His first experience in a serpent-handling church was "exhilarating and unsettling" (11). Compared to Covington's small Methodist church in Birmingham, Al. the snake-handling
Throughout Covington's spiritual journey and the religious beliefs of the southerners, Salvation on Sand Mountain leaves one wondering why people are like this. Snake handling among many other southern beliefs are what drive northerners to have a narrow-minded view of people that live in the south. In reality, southerners give themselves a bad name. For example, "Old Jesus Onlys, freaks, and Holy Rollers" (25) are some of the names outsiders called the members of Jesus With Signs Following. However, the people of the church did not let ridicule stop them from doing what they thought the Lord intended for them to do. I believe that we shouldn't judge the ones that have faith in these certain beliefs. We should just worry about our religion and our beliefs and how we know and trust God. church on Sand Mountain seemed to bring a different point of view to Covington about his spiritual life. For example, Covington stated t
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Approximate Word count = 634
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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