A Louisiana public school's decision to purchase palm scanners to speed up lunch lines and payments has been met with religious opposition.

Mother Mamie Sonnier said that she will not allow her children to participate in the scanner payment program, alleging that the technology would imprint the mark of the beast, or 666, on their hands.

Moss Bluff Elementary School principal Charles Caldarera says the system will reduce errors and is optional, but that wasn't enough of an argument for Mrs Sonnier, who has taken the program to be a sign of the apocalypse.