Subject:  Re: Workers claim 'mark of beast' in time-keeping, file protests on city ID system
Date:  Wed, 08 Aug 2007 09:33:00 -0400
By Sam Scott
Staff Writer
sam.scott@starnewsonline.com

Work can often be a bear, but can it be the beast?

About a dozen employees of the City of Wilmington have
filed religious protests against a new time-keeping system
that uses finger measurements to track workers' hours.

"As my divine ... right, I request that you, my employer,
accommodate my sincerely held religious belief by not
requiring me to submit to the use of a thumbprint, DNA or
any other biological identification device," one employee
wrote.

The city has declined to name the workers, making it hard
to discern the theology behind the protest. And the few
whose names could be determined by other means would not
discuss the matter with a reporter.

Rooted in Revelation

But similar complaints elsewhere have been rooted in the
concerns that biometrics - such as fingerprinting, retinal
scans and hand measures - represent the "mark of the beast"
predicted in Revelation, according to research by the Rand
Corp., a nonpartisan think tank.

"(The beast) also forced everyone, small and great, rich
and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right
hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell
unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or
the number of his name," the passage reads in the New
International Version of the final book of the Christian
New Testament.

The section predicts a time and society when people are
forced to adopt numbers and marks just to go about their
lives, said David Alan Carmichael, who successfully sued
the Navy after it kicked him out for refusing to use a
Social Security number.

Carmichael had an epiphany after 16 years in the Navy that
his Social Security number, required in practically every
facet of life, was the number of the beast. A decade later,
he remains adamant against using the number, even though
his protest makes him unable to open a bank account, get a
driver's license or register to vote.

Like-minded people are small minorities even in their own
churches, Carmichael said. But the rise of biometrics is
causing more people to think twice, especially with
Revelation's reference to the hand and forehead suggesting
hand and eye scans, he said. Those are stops on a slippery
slope to imbedded computer identification chips, the
ultimate mark, he said.

"It's truly a manifestation of the bowing down to the
beast," said Carmichael, who established the American
Christian Liberty Society to help others with the issue.

But that's another misguided reading of Revelation, the
most misunderstood, misinterpreted and abused book in the
Bible, said James M. Efird, professor emeritus at Duke
Divinity School and a Presbyterian minister.

The book's apocalyptic writings were for persecuted members
of the early Christian faith who were forced to pay homage
to Roman gods, an ordeal unlike having to place your finger
on a machine when you come and go at work, he said.

"As far as it having to do with anything like the mark of
the beast, that's just craziness," said Efird, who wrote a
book called Revelation for Today.

Brunswick on system

Brunswick County recently adopted a similar time-keeping
system without any religious complaints, said Huey
Marshall, Brunswick's spokesman, who said the change meant
less paper-pushing. At any rate, the county wasn't marking
anyone, just measuring their digits, he said.

Rolling out the Kronos Inc. system has cost the city of
Wilmington an estimated $350,000 and taken twice as long as
expected as the city's departments worked to reconcile
different pay practices, said Al McKenzie, the city's
director of human relations.

The new technology will be more accurate and more
efficient, and it will eliminate the chance of "buddy
punching" an absent friend's timecard. Only about 12 of the
city of Wilmington's 1,200 or so workers appealed being
measured for the Kronos system, McKenzie said.

"We are going to be taking those requests and review them
very seriously," he said. "Each individual will have to
provide convincing evidence this is a legitimate request."

Sam Scott: 343-2370

sam.scott@starnewsonline.com

http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/article/20070808/NEWS/708080486/-1/search01

Bro. David Alan Carmichael
757-850-1245
www.christianliberty.org