{"id":13932,"date":"2007-12-15T10:10:10","date_gmt":"2007-12-15T15:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/13932.html"},"modified":"2007-12-15T10:10:10","modified_gmt":"2007-12-15T15:10:10","slug":"this-week-in-god-92","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/this-week-in-god-92\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in God"},"content":{"rendered":"

First up from the God Machine this week is an unusually frivolous lawsuit<\/a>, filed by a man who feels discriminated against because he’s a modern-biology denier. Apparently, at scientific institutions, officials want employees who believe in science.<\/p>\n

A Christian biologist is suing the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, claiming he was fired for refusing to accept evolution, lawyers involved in the case said on Friday.<\/p>\n

Nathaniel Abraham, an Indian national who describes himself as a “Bible-believing Christian,” said in the suit filed on Monday in U.S. District Court in Boston that he was fired in 2004 because he would not accept evolution as scientific fact.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Apparently, Abraham, who is a zebrafish specialist, told his employers, eight months after getting hired as a postdoctoral researcher in a biology lab, that he rejects evolutionary biology because it conflicts with a literal interpretation of the Christian Bible. Shortly thereafter, he was dismissed. Abraham took his case to the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, which threw out his complaint earlier this year, “saying Abraham’s request not to work on evolutionary aspects of research would be difficult for Woods Hole because its work is based on evolutionary theories.”<\/p>\n

This need not be complicated. Abraham was hired as a scientist at a scientific institution. He was given a task: conduct research and write reports using modern evolutionary biology as a basis for analysis. Abraham wanted to do the work, but reject the science. His bosses weren’t impressed, and preferred someone more qualified.<\/p>\n

It’s akin to someone getting hired to study earthquakes for a scientific institution, but saying, “I want to do my job while rejecting plate-tectonic theory. And if you disagree, I’ll sue you.”<\/p>\n

Abraham is demanding $500,000 from Woods Hole, and while his case proceeds, he’s now “teaching” at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University in Virginia.
\n
\nOther items from The God Machine this week:<\/p>\n

* TV preacher Pat Robertson told his national television audience this week that an ice storm that hit much of the Midwest may have been the result of U.S. policy towards Israel<\/a>. He did not appear to be kidding.<\/p>\n

* There was an odd religious controversy<\/a> in South Carolina this week, when two South Carolina school districts considered a program in which low-income students could receive new shoes and socks through a program run by a local Baptist Church, but the kids would first have to undergo a ritual foot-washing exercise with church volunteers. Apparently, “church volunteers were scheduled to go to 25 schools in both districts this week to distribute shoes to as many as 12,000 students.” My friends at Americans United for Separation of Church and State are asking local education officials to scrap the plan.<\/p>\n

* In Rockville, Conn., a local atheist group was given permission to promote one of its seasonal displays alongside religious holiday displays in the towns central park. There was, however, a catch<\/a> — the Connecticut Valley Atheists posted a sign asking passers-by to “Imagine No Religion.” Shortly after it was in place, city officials erected a larger Christmas tree, making it hard to see the atheists’ display. When told that it appeared the tree was intended to block the display, Mayor Jason McCoy said, “Oh, really; that’s unfortunate.” (thanks to OkieFromMuskogee for the tip)<\/p>\n

* And finally, for the third year in a row, the official White House holiday card, signed by the president and first lady, does not mention<\/a> the word “Christmas,” though it does include a quote from Nehemiah 9:6. Will this satisfy Bill O’Reilly?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First up from the God Machine this week is an unusually frivolous lawsuit, filed by a man who feels discriminated against because he’s a modern-biology denier. Apparently, at scientific institutions, officials want employees who believe in science. A Christian biologist is suing the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, claiming he was fired for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13932\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}