Generally, the government doesn't meddle too much in Amish affairs—it doesn't make them educate children after the eighth grade, for instance, 'cause of the First Amendment and all that. So it's kind of surprising to see many Amish threaten to quit farming in a battle with the government over lojacking their livestock with the Mark of the Beast. They've joined up with a lawsuit challenging the National Animal Identification system, which requires livestock to be tagged with an RFID chip. The government says the chips help them track livestock disease. The lawsuit says that the RFID chip is in fact a "Mark of the Beast," as foretold in the book of the Bible that set up one of Arnold's worst movies ever, End of Days:
"Use of a numbering system for their premises and/or electronic numbering system for their animals constitutes some form of a 'mark of the beast' and/or represents an infringement of their 'dominion over cattle and all living things' in violation of their fundamental religious beliefs."
It's a serious enough violation of their religious beliefs that, if enforced, many would not be able to farm, even though they maintain a bunch of heirloom crops and livestock—which they note could be genetically handy if disease or a terrorist attack seriously batters our food supply. Personally, I'm not quite ready for Armageddon, so maybe the government should back off, just in case. [Threat Level via Fark]