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Religion See other Religion Articles Title: Workers claim 'mark of beast' in time-keeping, file protests on city ID system 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 Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 2.
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Yesterday the SSN, today the fingerprint, tomorrow the verichip
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