I’m surprised you folks aren’t all over this story I bumped into this morning.

http://news.yahoo.com/suit-nasa-specialist-axed-over-intelligent-design-202233838.html

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.

Sounds like an obnoxious guy to have to work next to.  Wonder if they have a “right” to force their crap onto a job site?

He was fired because he wouldn’t shut up about ID and Prop 8. Over 20 of his coworkers found it unduly annoying, distracting, and uncomfortable. He was told to shut up about it. He refused. He was fired.
Now he’s suing because California’s workplace discrimination laws are absurd.

P.Z. Myers has an entry in his blog.

I’ve been following this over at freethoughtblogs. The guy sounds like an obnoxious twerp. California laws make it very hard to fire someone. I am willing to bet the HR department at JPL had plenty of documentation before this guy got canned. I would complain if a coworker continuously cornered me and started talking about ID and trying to hand me DVDs of his bullshit beliefs. I hope this lawsuit gets tossed before it goes to trial.

All NASA needs for its defense is that he was a danger to spacecraft due to his engineering them to operate based on the Theory of Intelligent Falling instead of gravity.       

Evil atheists are cutting down anybody who disagrees with their anti-god worldview!

Rocinante, that article was hilarious!

Rocinante - 12 March 2012 07:30 PM

All NASA needs for its defense is that he was a danger to spacecraft due to his engineering them to operate based on the Theory of Intelligent Falling instead of gravity.       

Idunno, but that Onion website reads like satire to me. Or a spoof. Or something. Check out some of the other articles.

Anyway, it’s all wrong. Gravity has nothing to do with either Newton’s Apple or Being-Pushed-Down-By-God. I know, because I came across THE TRUTH scrawled on the wall of a motel washroom in Watson Lake, Yukon Territory, in 1977:-

    THERE IS NO GRAVITY. THE EARTH SUCKS.

Truly, you can find Transcendent Wisdom in the most unlikely places.

“Behold, I say unto you, he who looks, shall often find. But then, quite possibly, he will wish he hadn’t.”
    - Bhagwan Shree O’Finnerty, “The Aphorisms of Fud”; Collected Works, Vol XXIII, P666
      Miskatonic University Press, Arkham, Mass. 1999 (reprint)

Theflyingsorcerer - 13 March 2012 02:25 PM

Idunno, but that Onion website reads like satire to me. Or a spoof. Or something. Check out some of the other articles.

 

But that’s what the Onion is. 

Yes, of course The Onion is satire - among the best out there.  But within that satire is great truth.  At least more truth than Intelligent Design. 

The whole NASA/religion angle reminds me of a famous Urban Legend.

I have seen articles form the Onion taken for real ones many times. That’s what makes it so fun. The great thing about this one is, even though it was pretty funny to us, it really wasn’t any worse than the stuff coming from the real creationists.

FreeInKy - 13 March 2012 05:29 PM

I have seen articles form the Onion taken for real ones many times. That’s what makes it so fun. The great thing about this one is, even though it was pretty funny to us, it really wasn’t any worse than the stuff coming from the real creationists.

I agree. The Onion’s full potential is realized when people start forwarding links to an article, and people mistake them for something serious. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen people mistakenly react to an Onion article here at the office. Good stuff.

traveler - 13 March 2012 02:27 PM

Theflyingsorcerer - 13 March 2012 02:25 PM

Idunno, but that Onion website reads like satire to me. Or a spoof. Or something. Check out some of the other articles.

 

But that’s what the Onion is. 

Wasn’t familiar with the site, but it seemed pretty obvious that it wasn’t to be taken seriously. Although I suppose there are always people out there who don’t get it…...........

Theflyingsorcerer.

Theflyingsorcerer - 13 March 2012 10:57 PM

traveler - 13 March 2012 02:27 PM

Theflyingsorcerer - 13 March 2012 02:25 PM

Idunno, but that Onion website reads like satire to me. Or a spoof. Or something. Check out some of the other articles.

 

But that’s what the Onion is. 

Wasn’t familiar with the site, but it seemed pretty obvious that it wasn’t to be taken seriously. Although I suppose there are always people out there who don’t get it…...........

Theflyingsorcerer.

That’s common, as others have mentioned. I’ve been there. It is a lot like the Colbert show in the sense that many thought he really was a conservative when they first saw the show. And @Rocinante is right that it often teaches us something.