Teacher Claims Fingerprinting Is ‘Mark of the Beast’ | Threat Level | Wired.com

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Teacher Claims Fingerprinting Is ‘Mark of the Beast’

A 22-year veteran kindergarten teacher in the Texas Bible Belt could lose her job for refusing, on religious grounds, to give fingerprints under a state law requiring them.

The evangelical Christian, Pam McLaurin, is fighting a looming suspension, claiming that fingerprinting amounts to the “ Mark of the Beast ,” and hence is a violation of her First Amendment right to practice her religion . Her case is similar to a lawsuit by a group of Michigan farmers , some of them Amish, challenging rules requiring the tagging of livestock with RFID chips, saying the devices are also the devil’s mark.

The latest case is the first in which a teacher is refusing fingerprinting on religious grounds, the woman’s lawyer said. The U.S. Supreme Court has yet to decide whether the First Amendment is implicated in fingerprinting, especially at a time when states, local governments and civic organizations are increasingly making them mandatory ...

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http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/11/mark-of-the-beast/

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/11/mark-of-the-beast/