SAN ANTONIO, Texas (WordNews.org) Jan. 11, 2013— A federal judge in Texas has denied the Rutherford Institute’s request seeking a preliminary injunction that would prevent a school from expelling a student who refuses to wear a smart ID tracking badge.

U.S. Judge Orlando Garcia said Andrea Hernandez’s refusal to wear a chipless RFID tracking badge  is “not grounded in her religious beliefs” and is a “secular choice rather than a religious concern.”  Gardia is the a U.S. District judge for the Western District of Texas in San Antonio.

According to the judge’s order, Hernandez, a sophomore in a science and engineering magnet school housed in John Jay High School, has until the end of the current semester to provide written notice to Northside Independent School District officials as to whether she will accept the school’s accommodation of wearing the Smart ID badge without a chip, which Andrea, a Christian, objects to on the grounds that it represents the “mark of the Beast.”

The badges, part of the school’s “Student Locator Project,” include tiny Radio Frequency Identification (“RFID”) chips that produce a radio signal, enabling school officials to track students’ location on school property.

Rutherford attorneys have alleged that the school is attempting to penalize, discriminate and retaliate against Hernandez, which they say violates her rights under Texas’ Religious Freedom Act and the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Institute attorneys intend to appeal the judge’s ruling.

“The Supreme Court has made clear that government officials may not scrutinize or question the validity of an individual’s religious beliefs,” said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. “By declaring Andrea Hernandez’s objections to be a secular choice and not grounded in her religious beliefs, the district court is placing itself as an arbiter of what is and is not religious. This is simply not permissible under our constitutional scheme, and we plan to appeal this immediately.”