666 AND ALL THAT

Now I've felt like my phone company was Satan before, but Kentucky Mountain Bible College seems to have good reason. It seems the college's phone number prefix is an unwelcome 666:

"People say, 'You're a Bible college, and you have 666 in your phone number,'" said Carlene Light, an office worker at Kentucky Mountain Bible College. "It's the connotation. No one wants to be part of the mark of the beast."

The non-denominational Christian college on a hillside in Eastern Kentucky has been trying to convince a telephone company to change the number.

The phone company is co-operating, apparently, and quite frankly I'm surprised that prefix has even been issued. Like tall buildings that have no 13th floor, one would think phone companies would avoid those digits just to avoid upsetting the sensibilities of some folks. There's often a fixation on the inconsequential in religion--I think this certainly qualifies. It's as if God would see actual relevance in what your phone number might be.

The college doesn't seem to appreciate the ironic humor of it all.