I am a member of my local Unitarian Universalist church, where I organized and facilitated a Buddhist study and practice group. (I've also attended the church's CUUPS interest group activities. [1]

But you are right. A Buddhist place of worship is called a temple. I prefer to call it a Buddhist place of sanctuary as there is nothing I am there to worship -- although some folks do engage in devotional practices. Like most world religions, Buddhism has been adapted by people of different places to include their devotional practices, even when there is nothing of that in the original teachings and practices.

I don't know the story about the snake-bitten man. But I do know the story of the Hindu holy man who taught a poisonous snake to meditate and to stop killing the local villagers. Unfortunately, the local villagers then began to abuse the snake -- tossing rocks at it, the kids using it as a jump rope, and so on. The holy man returned and found the snake in a pitiful state. The snake said, "O, most revered one, see what your philosophy of non-resistance has done for me?" The snake was surprised when the holy man became very cross. "You foolish snake. I told you to not bite or kill; I did not tell you to not hiss." [2]

[1] Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans

http://www.cuups.org/content2/

[2] http://www.skepticfiles.org/mys3/karbib1.htm