Ontarian refuses photo I.D.

OWEN SOUND, ON-George Bothwell says digital photo identification is akin to the biblical mark of the beast. He refuses to submit to it, instead taking the Ontario government to court.

In a legal brief filed with the Ontario Superior Court, Bothwell, a 57-year-old father of eight, outlined several faith-based reasons as to why he is against digitized photos used on Ontario driver's licences, including referal to the "mark of the beast" found in Revelation 13.

"A quick scan of your [eye's] iris or fact to authorize a credit card transaction fits the Revelation 13 definition of the mark of the beast because it's a system that escapes people's understanding," says Bothwell.

Earlier he told the Globe and Mail at a press conference that "the Bible says that he who worships the beast or receives his image shall drink the wine of the wrath of God. That prophecy was written two millennia ago, when there was really no vocabulary to describe this technology that has come upon us.

The God of the Bible wants individual freedom. This system enforces external control over people."

Bothwell worries that a digitzed photo allows private information to be "captured" in a bank that one day might be bought and sold globally. In the brief, he writes that his eternal salvation is compromised by handing over his photo to data bank storage.

Restricted freedom

Since the digitization, Bothwell, a liquid manure spreader, has had to renounce his driver's licence. "Because he lives in a rural area, the inability to drive greatly restricts his freedom of movement, his ability to earn a living and his ability to interact with the community," reads the legal brief.

Before 1997 the provincial government allowed Bothwell to attach a polaroid snapshot to the the two-part licence. When the system became digital, Bothwell applied for an exemption, but was refused based on the criteria for eligibility for a religious exemption-religious convictions must be endorsed by the religious leader of a congregation to which the person belongs.

However, Bothwell's fears about the implications of a photo ID data bank are strictly personal, and the Ontario Ministry of Transportation has obtained opinion from several Christian scholars who say his views are more animist than Christian.

Bothwell's lawyer Clayton Ruby maintains that Bothwell's views about an individual, personal relationship with Jesus are "widely held" and his interpretation of Revelation and End Times signs are believed by some American Christians.

Ruby says he hopes the factum and case will result in the government reconsidering its laws and legal decisions surrounding freedom of religion.

"Right now the government takes the right to prove which religions it will recognize as valid," says Ruby. "The requirements to be recognized are that you need to be within a congregation and need a leader who writes a letter of support for your beliefs. My client doesn't believe in congregations and thinks that relationships with God are personal."

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