JPL Employee's Firing Wasn't Due To Intelligent Design Advocacy, Says Judge 477
A reader writes with an update to a story from earlier this year about a lawsuit in which David Coppedge alleged he was fired from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for his advocacy of Intelligent Design. Now, a judge has ruled that Coppedge was legitimately dismissed for performance reasons. From the article:
"n 2009, he apparently got a bit aggressive about promoting these ideas at work, leading one employee to complain. The resulting investigation found that he had also aggressively promoted his opinion on California's gay marriage ban, and had attempted to get JPL's holiday party renamed to 'Christmas party.' ... Coppedge was warned about his behavior at work, but he felt it was an infringement of his religious freedom, so he sued. Shortly after, as part of a set of cutbacks on the Cassini staff, he was fired. In court, Coppedge and his lawyer portrayed him as being targeted for promoting an idea that is, to put it mildly, not popular with scientists. But JPL's legal team introduced evidence that his aggressive promotion of it at work was part of a pattern of bad interactions with his fellow employees that dated back at least five years earlier."
Imagine that.... (Score:4, Funny)
An advocate of Intelligent Design who wasn't competent to work in a scientific organization? I'm SHOCKED!
Not really....
That's what happens... (Score:5, Funny)
If you don't adapt......
Re:First (Score:5, Funny)
Religion is like a penis. It's okay to have one, play with it, show it to people if they wanna see it, but you just can't whip it out in public and start cramming it down peoples' throats...
Re:First (Score:1, Funny)
Too bad you weren't a 10 year old boy. I doubt he would have found fault in your performance.
Re:First (Score:3, Funny)
Fairly certain Einstein never said he knew God on Facebook.
Re:Einstein on Religion (Score:4, Funny)
Re:First (Score:4, Funny)
That's just cuz God unfriended him after Einstein stopped showing up for his Farm.