I BELIEVE, I BELIEVE

OK, I'm about as spiritual as the next guy. It's religion I have trouble with.

I certainly take exception when a fundamental doctrine of a church is to handle snakes.

Such was the case at the East London Holiness Church in London, Ky., where a parishioner died after she was bitten by a snake in the church. Snake-handling during the religious service there is based on a passage in the Bible that says a true believer has the power to "take up serpents" without being harmed.

Guess she wasn't a true believer ... or maybe the snake finally just got tired of all that handling.

So much for that.

And so much for those poor, distraught people who believed their letters to a minister of a New Jersey church, asking him to pray for them, were read. In reality, he stuffed the letters somewhere, unopened. They were found recently floating in a plastic bag off Atlantic City in the ocean. Some dated back to 1973.

Even though he died two years ago, to him I say, "Hey man, since you're (hopefully) already up there, any chance of finishing the job?"

P.S. Internet photo was sent to me from a way-too spiritual person.