Maryann, Amish isn't a reilgion, or a part of Christianity, it's a lifestyle. What they do, however bad it may be, is irrelevant to the topic at hand. I do agree, however, that these people who don't want their picture taken should not be given that privledge. It's necessary to include a person's photo on a driver's license, and besides, what they are arguing is a misinterpretation of Scripture. Finally, that organization in Canada has no right to make Christian Horizons pay that former employee or to basically change their statement of beliefs, especially if the organization isn't receiving any support from the Canadian government in the first place. Separation of church and state goes both ways.

Shocked by the ignorance of the first two commenters. I just recently had my license renewed here in the state of Pennsylvania, and on the back of the form to get a license, you can most certainly apply for an exemption to getting the photo taken for religious reasons. Both of the fine commenters here apparently believe their evangelical Christian religion is the *only* religion that is to have its rights respected. Amish, Hutterites, and many other fringe/conservative branches of Judeo-Christianity interpret "graven images" to be any image of a human being, in which God's life is breathed. Conservative Muslims take this a step further, wherein no living creatures are put into their art (hence all the mosaic/mathematical patterns and designs in their art). There are places where people like the Amish fight for too much and are out of line (Maryann is right about the puppy mills, and the raw sewage, and the triangles). But I think the photo ID exemption is reasonable. It works in PA!

Why is having or not having a photo on a license a religious issue? I don't know about Canada but in the US, driving is a privilege NOT a right & there are rules about who can drive. If you don't want to play by the rules, don't try to play the game. In Pennsylvania, Amish want exempted from laws forbidding leaking raw sewage because they don't believe in toilets. They don't want reflective triangles on buggies, making them dangers on the road at night. Forbidding photography, plumbing & reflective triangles makes you HOLY? The worst animal cruelty ever is in Amish puppy mills (Google it). It's not freedom of religion to leak sewage, create danger on roads & let dogs freeze/starve & refuse to have proper identification for the privilege of driving. Don't want to have a photo on your license? Walk, take a bus or get back in your buggy but don't forget the reflective triangle.

I'm a little confused. Isn't graven image considered a graven image of the god being worshiped not a graven image of the follower. And if Canada is a democracy, how can it tell an entity what it's purpose, mission, rules are. An entity has the legal status of an individual. I don't even think the communists rewrote the beliefs of churches within the borders the communists controlled. They were anti-religious period telling its people lies about the church and having the money support and priests okayed by the government but they didn't rewrite the beliefs of the church, just threw people in jail. That's what Canadian law is doing, rewriting the beliefs of an entity. Oh, what am I saying, the U.S. government is doing the same, using the law to rewrite the beliefs of churches, they're just more sneaky about it.