Feeling Minnesota

[Boyd Baumgartner]

https://nypost.com/2021/06/19/eeoc-file ... erprinted/

A Minnesota man refused to leave fingerprints — and got fired for it.

As a result, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing a Minnesota firm on behalf of Henry Harrington, of Mound, who was sacked for refusing the company’s requirement to be fingerprinted on religious grounds, the Star Tribune reported Friday.

The EEOC suit against AscensionPoint Recovery Services, a debt recovery company, was filed this week.

AscensionPoint had requested that workers be fingerprinted as a result of a background check requirement of one of its clients, according to the EEOC.

Harrington, 37, however, told AscensionPoint in July 2017 that having his fingerprints captured was contrary to his Christian beliefs. He was fired the same day.

The suit seeks back pay for Harrington from the time he was fired, and other financial compensation for “emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, loss of enjoyment of life and humiliation.”

“An employee should not have to choose between his faith and his livelihood,” Gregory Gochanour, the EEOC’s regional attorney in the Chicago District Office, said in a statement.

[Texas Pat]

I'd be interested to know where in Scripture he finds inspiration for his supposed Christian opposition to being fingerprinted.

Or why he wouldn't just go on in search of a job that didn't require him to sacrifice his beliefs for a paycheck.

[josher89]

It's not about religion; it's about a quick buck.

I was raised in a pretty heavy Christian household and have a pretty good understanding of the Bible. I know it can be represented in any number of ways to suit the reader but I don't recall where it says fingerprints are the Devil's mark or anything. Perhaps a scholar of religious texts can clarify if I'm wrong.

[Alan C]

It's not about religion; it's about a quick buck.

I was raised in a pretty heavy Christian household and have a pretty good understanding of the Bible. I know it can be represented in any number of ways to suit the reader but I don't recall where it says fingerprints are the Devil's mark or anything. Perhaps a scholar of religious texts can clarify if I'm wrong.

Conceivably he associates submitting his fingerprints to a government database with the Mark of the Beast or something, but since the article only characterizes his beliefs as "Christian" it's hard to say. I'm an ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church and a serious Bible student, and I can't think of a text that supports what he's doing. Maybe he just has something to hide and is using religion as a pretext to avoid a background check.

[josher89]

I mean, if you believe in this, God created us in His image so therefore, He must have fingerprints, right? So the fact that we have fingerprints should be a good thing?

[Boyd Baumgartner]

Possible answers:

He was either engaging in the right hand of fellowship and therefore couldn't complete a tenprint card. Gal 2:9

Or

The vaccine is the mark of the beast and Bill Gates will steal your soul if you give him your fingerprints. Dudeyoureontome 4:20

[Alan C]

I mean, if you believe in this, God created us in His image so therefore, He must have fingerprints, right? So the fact that we have fingerprints should be a good thing?

And the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God!” Exodus 8:19

No idea if they did a comparison to determine that . . .