THE Virgina House of Delegates yesterday approved a measure that could protect Virginia residents from overbearing employers … and possibly the apocalypse.
The law would make it illegal to implant an identification or tracking device into a person’s body without their written consent. As the use of implanted microchips becomes more common – people use them to track pets and could possibly use them for purposes such as securing one’s medical history – lawmakers are starting to address concerns. Some are concerned their use among humans would lead to a lack of privacy or abuse from employers.
Others, the Washington Post reports, are also concerned the use of microchips could be the “mark of the beast” – or the coming of the Antichrist.
Del. Mark L Cole, the bill’s sponsor, said:
My understanding – I’m not a theologian – but there’s a prophecy in the Bible that says you’ll have to receive a mark, or you can neither buy nor sell things in end times. Some people think these computer chips might be that mark.
Cole reportedly said that he primarily sponsored the bill because of the privacy issues.
A disturbing number of deranged Christians in the US believe the Antichrist has already arrived - in the form of President Obama
I just think you should have the right to control your own body.
Yet some fundamentalist Christians see more serious concerns in the Book of Revelation in the Bible, which reads:
He causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Commented Joseph L Conn, over at The Wall of Separation:
So let me get this straight: the Antichrist – the personification of Evil itself – is going to show up in America and start imposing the mark of Beast. He rolls through states such California, Kansas and Delaware, but when he gets to the Virginia line, he and his legions of demons just have to stop dead in their sulfurous tracks.
“Sorry, boys,” he’ll say. “Virginia’s got a law that says we can’t mess with the good folks there.”
You know, I’m not sure I buy it.
He added:
Far be it from me, however, to make fun of anyone else’s sincerely held religious beliefs. The Free Exercise Clause guarantees that we each can believe any darn thing we want to. I’m sure there are millions of people who think my opinions about religion are utterly ridiculous, and yet the Constitution ensures my right to hold them.
But there’s a difference between Virginia’s anti-Antichrist brigade and me. I’m not trying to pass legislation enacting my beliefs into law.
The House measure’s provisions won’t do much harm, I guess. It blocks something that almost certainly wasn’t going to happen any way. But focusing on things like this diverts legislative attention from pressing matters such as unemployment, education and state budgets.
And most importantly, it does enormous harm when legislators get the idea that it’s perfectly okay for them to enact laws based on religion.
Hat Tip: Alan H
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
February 18th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
Antichrist aside I think this law is good, I disagree strongly with using RFID chips on people, after all we are men and women, not goods or cattle to be barcoded and treated as a commodity.
February 18th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
I’m not at all surprised. VA is chock full of religious nuts.
February 18th, 2010 at 1:57 pm
Everybody should be chipped, vaccinated, patted and given treats.
February 18th, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Does the Antichrist intend to mess with The Virginian, the classic TV Western? If so, he must be resisted.
The Evil One can incinerate the state, and welcome, as it seems to be the sort of place where cousins getting hitched would be considered a mixed marriage.
February 18th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
Not a bad law if I understand it right. What’s silly is the reason they’re giving for it.
February 18th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
see there is a valid arguement to be made against chipping people and employers expecting their staff to be chipped however any valid point they may have had about that has been overshadowed by the batshit crazy refferences to the antichrist and the end times.
February 18th, 2010 at 6:54 pm
Cole said “I just think you should have the right to control your own body”. Oh yes, so why do these barking mad christians deny women the right to control their bodies with contraception and abortion.
February 19th, 2010 at 1:29 am
Angela,
That’s different. Women are directed by God to be brood sows, so they aren’t allowed to control their bodies.
February 19th, 2010 at 3:22 am
Ronald Reagan put an end to privacy in the US. If you take a hit off a bong on a Friday Night, you lose your job on Monday. Some employers pulled hairs out of your head to see if you’ve used any illegal drugs for previous months. Easy fix. Shave your head.
And I have gone through yearly background checks with a microchip manufacturer. It went from any misdemeanor I was ever convicted in my entire life, in the beginning, to, eventually, every fucking traffic ticket I ever recieved. And annually, I had to fill out this report before I could renew my security badge. And if I failed to report any incident, the application for renewal was red flagged and sent back through management for review. That’s what’s really ridiculous. Obviously they were buying an FBI background check, so why even ask me what they already know, and if there is something that offends them, FIRE ME!!!!! Don’t make me fill out all these stupid fucking papers every year!!!
I personally don’t mind much to walk through a reader and have everyone know that I’m not a child molester, or murderer, a bank robber, or a con man. But, here is something that the world at large is blissfully ignoring: In 1859, a solar flare occurred that was so intense, it burned out telegraph systems. When, not if, such a natural event occurs again, every computer on this planet will be toast. And the more dependant we become on computers, the worse that inevitable disaster will be.
NeoWolfe
February 19th, 2010 at 10:02 pm
Anyone else hear banjos?
March 8th, 2010 at 6:51 am
Ok wait a minute. I’m from the South, not that far from Virginia. And not all of us are that nuts. And to the person who said that about mixed marriage, that’d be considered incest not mixed marriage. Just wanted people to know that not all people from the South are guitar-strumming hillbilly hicks with no brains.