Teacher Claims Fingerprinting Is 'Mark of the Beast'

[meegbear]

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 for anyone wanting to drive a car or coach a youth basketball team.

McLaurin’s lawsuit against the Texas Education Agency cites various passages of Revelation, the final book of The Bible:

He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand and on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.… Then a third angel followed them saying with a loud voice — if anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God.… He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

Her attorney, Scott Skelton, said his client believes that the computerized fingerprinting, in which her fingerprints will be stored in a database, is the mark addressed in Revelation. The teacher does not believe that it is merely coincidence that Revelation says only those with the 'mark on his forehead or on his hand' will be able to buy or sell, since only those teachers who comply with fingerprinting requirements will keep their jobs, he said.

"This law prohibits the free exercise of her religion," Skelton said in a telephone interview.

<snip>

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

[Kalyke]

1. Well, it's against my "religion" to have my taxes go to pay for her salary, then.

And, if the idiot had really read Revelation, she would know that the Mark of the Beast is permanent. Fingerprint ink can be removed with fingernail polish remover. :eyes:

[The2ndWheel]

5. The problem isn't the ink

[RaleighNCDUer]

16. Then what is it? It can't be the fingerprint itself, as that is not something that

was 'given' by the anti-christ - it is something everyone is born with.

My theory? She doesn't want the print compared to something that happened long ago in a county far away.

[Blue-Jay]

20. Most places don't even use ink anymore. It's all digital.

(Don't ask me how I know that. :( )

[Igel]

30. Texas does both.

You can have your print scanned directly or you can be inked and the resulting blob eventually scanned. So it's all digital, in the end.

If you're scanned then they know almost at once if the scan is good enough for them to use or not. If you're inked and printed they have to send it off and you may not know for a few days that you need to be reprinted.

The education folks prefer the former--it's faster (a bit more expensive), but you get the results more quickly.

[KittyWampus]

2. if a person can't live in civil society and abide by their laws they need to live on a compound

somewheres they can be totally isolated and "enjoying" the company of like minded religious extremists.

edit- for example, the Amish.

[Angry Dragon]

23. Hey!!!!!!!!!

I feel that the comment about the Amish was uncalled for.

They may be strange in your eyes, but to my knowledge they have never hurt or attacked someone because they did not believe as they believe. This is what religious freedom is all about. Let me believe as I want and I will let you believe as you want.

It is the ones with hate in their souls, guns in their hands, and no conception of what tolerance is, these are the ones you need to be afraid of.

[KittyWampus]

32. The Amish are a perfect example of a group that lives to themselves in a closed community.

OH, and your romantic notion of the Amish disregards the crappy way they treat women and animals.

The Amish are quite happy running puppy mills, for instance.

[kestrel91316]

27. The Amish don't live in "compounds". They live for the most part

on farms on public roads in rural America. And while they primarily socialize with other Amish (as is anyone's prerogative), they are anything but "totally isolated".

You ignorance on the subject is truly astonishing and bigoted. They may be conservative Anabaptists, but I don't consider them extremists. They really pretty much mind their own business.

[KittyWampus]

31. Oh for fucks sake. They live in their own communities. So many DU'ers are such

know-it-all ***holes.

It was totally obvious what I meant.

But thanks for your unnecessary information about the Amish.

You like the way they run their puppy mills?

[DemBones DemBones]

3. It's certainly an invasion of privacy

which should make it a violation of the Constitution. It used to be that only criminals were fingerprinted.

[donco6]

6. I believe it's done in every school district in the country.

It's compared to lists of felons and sex offenders, as every state has laws prohibiting felons and sex offenders from being near children.

It's been done ever since I've been here - 15 years.

[Angry Dragon]

24. If you work with the disabled

you have to get your fingerprints taken. Some places require daycare workers also. Most places where you work with children.

[kestrel91316]

28. I had to get fingerprinted in 1983 to get my CA veterinary license.

[TwilightGardener]

29. Some states require fingerprinting for RN licensure, as well.

[RoadRage]

4. Keep her as far away from my 5 year old as possible...

At this point I don't care if she does or does not give her fingerprints.. I basically don't think she's qualified to teach ABC's, 123's or shoe tying.

[arcadian]

7. That's awesome, she sounds a lot more interesting than my kindergarten teacher, Mrs Walsh.

Lessons about demons and devils.

[eShirl]

8. And here I thought credit cards were supposed to be the mark of the beast.

[KittyWampus]

9. I thought it was the bar codes? Silly Fundies, it's whatever they say it is at the time

[MountainLaurel]

18. No, no barcodes!

Seriously, a few years ago when official IDs were first made mandatory for teachers and students in a lot of schools, a public school teacher in my home state made international news for being suspended because he refused to wear his ID: It had a barcode, which was the mark of the beast.

[Sebastian Doyle]

22. Credit cards are evil, and the companies that issue them even more so

but it's a stretch to say they literally come from Satan :evilgrin:

[sufrommich]

10. Prediction: We will find out that this teacher has a past

indiscretion that has nothing to do with her religion.

[TorchTheWitch]

12. exactly what I was thinking n/t

[peace frog]

11. McLaurin: you too can be replaced

and by someone eager to do the job. I'm sure McLaurin can find top-flight employment as a WalMart greeter.

[mitchum]

13. I suspect that she is afraid it will uncover a criminal past

[Toots]

14. Is she saying God is "the beast" cause it was God that gave her those marks on her fingers

No one is putting any marks upon her that can't be washed off immediately. The only mark was from God....

[madmom]

15. Freedom to practice her religion..no problem, freedom to teach.. no guarantee there, sorry!

[Milspec]

17. Silly woman

Thats the zip code of the beast, not the mark.

[krabigirl]

19. With views like that, she shouldn't be allowed to teach in public schools.

[Sebastian Doyle]

21. A fingerprint, by definition could not be the "Mark of the Beast"

The scripture in Revelation clearly says that anyone who accepts the Mark of the Beast will burn in Hell. A fingerprint is something you're born with. Even fair to say that it's "God given", and no way to refuse one.

Now if they actually started making the RFID chips "mandatory", THAT would be something to worry about. :scared:

[DrZeeLit]

25. Yes, complying with these silly laws seems such a drag... but....

when the shit hits the fan ---> just ONE teacher who ISN'T... just ONE teacher who turns out to be an escaped convict, or pedophile, or sex offender, or somebody who would hurt kids... and this person DOES hurt kids... then we would NEVER NEVER hear the end of it,

I never really considered the whole fingerprinting thing when I became a teacher.
I didn't think of it as a trial or a problem.
I always assume (with some pride) that I had an "FBI file" left over from scads of protests during the Vietnam War in which I wasn't just a bystander, but more a worker bee/administrator of the protests.
Still, I never figured fingerprinting, or even the TB tests, to be an issue.

Loyalty oaths? Issue.
Peeing in a cup without due process? Issue.
Censorship? Issue.
Overcrowding? Issue
Lack of books or materials? Issue
Standardized Testing --- oh don't even get me started.

[Taverner]

26. HAHAHAHAH Stupid Fundie

Gotta love those stupid fundie tricks

I wouldn't want someone as unhinged as her teaching children anyway!