Texas court fight over Antichrist ID badge

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SAN ANTONIO, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- A Texas man told a federal court his daughter should be exempted from carrying a high-tech school ID card because it amounted to submission to the Antichrist.

Andrea Hernandez, 15, and her father, Steven Hernandez, are challenging the ID requirement because they saw the Radio Frequency Identification, or RFID, tracking chip in the ID badge as a "mark of the beast" that would jeopardize her salvation in the event of the biblical end of the world.

The San Antonio (Texas) Express-News said Steven Hernandez teared up while reading from the Bible on the witness stand. He added supporting the RFID project "would compromise our salvation for NISD (Northside Independent School District) to make some money."

District officials said they implemented the RFID system as a way to more efficiently monitor attendance and even locate specific students on campus. Superintendent Brian Woods said in court federal funding for school districts is based on daily attendance, which makes accurate head counts important.

The district said it had offered to remove the RFID chip from Andrea's badge and ordered her transferred from John Jay High School to her neighborhood high school when she declined the offer. Andrea testified she wanted to remain at Jay because it offered specific classes that would help her with her aspirations for a career in Web design.