Source: CBC
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has landed robotic explorers on the
surface of Mars, sent probes to outer planets and operates a worldwide
network of antennas that communicates with interplanetary spacecraft.
Its latest mission is defending itself in a workplace lawsuit filed
by a former computer specialist who claims he was demoted — and then let
go — for promoting his views on intelligent design, the belief that a
higher power must have had a hand in creation because life is too
complex to have developed through evolution alone.
David Coppedge, who worked as a "team lead" on the Cassini mission
exploring Saturn and its many moons, alleges that he was discriminated
against because he engaged his co-workers in conversations about
intelligent design and handed out DVDs on the idea while at work.
Coppedge lost his team lead title in 2009 and was let go last year after
15 years on the mission.
Opening statements are expected to begin Monday in Los Angeles
Superior Court after two years of legal wrangling in a case that has
generated interest among supporters of intelligent design. The Alliance
Defence Fund, a Christian civil rights group, and the Discovery
Institute, a proponent of intelligent design, are both supporting
Coppedge's case.
"It's part of a pattern. There is basically a war on anyone who
dissents from Darwin and we've seen that for several years," said John
West, associate director of the Centre for Science and Culture at the
Seattle-based Discovery Institute. "This is free speech, freedom of
conscience 101."
Read Full Article
