Religious Californians Won Right to Avoid the "Mark of the Beast"

A California judge ordered the state's Department of Motor Vehicles to 
accommodate the concerns of five men who want to apply for driver's 
licenses without providing their Social Security numbers as required. 
The men object to Social Security numbers on relgious grounds, saying 
that they may be the "mark of the Beast" mentioned in the Revelation of 
John.

In her decision, issued in mid-October, California Superior Court Judge 
Diane Wayne said the state DMV can find another method for identification 
that accommodates the men's "sincerely held religious convictions...that 
anyone who uses his or her Social Security number is in danger of not 
receiving eternal life."

Midnight Call Magazine
February, 1998
Reprint from: Word & Way, 11/20/97