Mark of the beast

MARK OF THE BEAST: Some Christians believe that the federal Real ID Act, which will standardize state driver's licenses, marks the beginning of the end times. They believe that the ID law is connected to the "mark of the beast," the number 666, which is associated with the Antichrist in the book of Revelation, and that the law will be used to control commerce internationally during the so-called Great Tribulation.

These fears are helping to fuel noncompliance movements in Maine, Arkansas and Georgia, as well as in Missouri, which approved a bill to opt out of the federal system. The federal ID program was pro posed after 9/11 when it was discovered that most of the terrorists had obtained fake driver's licenses (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 22).

COPYRIGHT 2007 The Christian Century Foundation
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning