Snakes on the brain

"Snakes on a Plane" was the film box-office leader last weekend, much to the chagrin of herpetologists such as London Zoo curator Richard Gibson…Gibson is irritated by the anti-serpent bias of the American media, and he has reason to be -- because snakes at other times and in other cultures have had good press…I'm not sure what to make of all the cultures that have turned snakes into heroes, but every once in a while it's time to write a column full of weird stuff. So is there something significant about the ancient Canaanites worshipping a goddess associated with a serpent?… Author Robert Bowie Johnson, Jr., finds significance in the ancient Greek understanding of serpents. He describes in "The Parthenon Code" (2004) vases depicting a first couple standing by a serpent-entwined tree in an ancient paradise, and claims that the Parthenon presented part of the Genesis saga -- but from the serpent's point of view. Did the Greeks celebrate the taking of the forbidden fruit as one small reach for a person, and one large leap toward wisdom for mankind? (Wise Athena, commonly portrayed with a snake, derived her name from a-thanatos, without death.)…

From World magazine editor Marvin Olasky at Townhall.com (dated August 24, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends August 25, 2006 (RE)