John Jay High School, is part of the Northside Independent School District in Texas now requires its students to wear I’D tags with RFID chips to track students whereabouts during the school day. While some people are raising concerns about privacy, student Andrea Hernandez has a very different issue with them. Miss Hernandez believes the tags are “the mark of the Beast” as seen in the book of Revelations in the Bible.

The school has offered to issue her a tag with the chip and battery removed but this is not enough. With the support of her family, she is refusing to wear any form of ID tag issued by the government via the school. The school is being demonized in the media for allegedly threatening to expell Miss Hernandez for refusing to be tracked with an RFID chip. This is not the case.

The school district has offered a compromise, but the Hernandez family allegedly believes that “any kind of identifying badge issued by the government is the mark of the beast”. As a result, Andrea refuses to wear even the ID badge with the chip removed. That’s her right.

I don’t believe what the Hernandez family believes and that’s okay. I don’t have to share their beliefs to respect them. I would question whether either of her parents have a drivers license or social security number. Regardless of the answer to that question, what is wanted here is a little reciprocity. The Hernandez family needs to respect the school districts belief that all students need to be treated equally.

Every other student has to wear these ID tags. They have chosen to go along with the program in order to continue attending school in that district. No one is forcing Andrea to wear an ID tag. It is entirely Miss Hernandez choice. What is missing here, is the understanding that choosing not to wear the tag means choosing not to attend that school. No one is forcing her out. It’s all about the choices she is making. I’m not judging her choice as right or wrong. I simply want it acknowledged that she is the one making the decision about whether or not she will attend this school, not the school district.

Over the years I’ve attended many Bible studies and read much of the Bible. Nowhere in it is there anything to suggest that school ID cards, even ones with RFID chips are “the mark of the Beast”. It’s actually pretty clear about what that will look like. It’s nothing to do with school IDs. Unless the Bible got it wrong and the Beast is going high tech.

Cheers, Winston