David Coppedge, Ex-NASA Worker, Claims In Lawsuit That Agency Axed Him For 'Intelligent Design' View
10 replies, posted
[quote]LOS ANGELES — 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 Defense 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 Center for Science and Culture at the Seattle-based Discovery Institute. "This is free speech, freedom of conscience 101."
The National Center for Science Education, which rejects intelligent design as thinly veiled creationism, is also watching the case and has posted all the legal filings on its website.
"It would be unfortunate if the court took what seems to be a fairly straightforward employment law case and allowed it to become this tangled mess of trying to adjudicate scientific matters," said Josh Rosenau, NCSE's programs and policy director. "It looks like a pretty straightforward case. The mission that he was working on was winding down and he was laid off."
Coppedge's attorney, William Becker, says his client was singled out by his bosses because they perceived his belief in intelligent design to be religious. Coppedge had a reputation around JPL as an evangelical Christian and other interactions with co-workers led some to label him as a Christian conservative, Becker said.
In the lawsuit, Coppedge says he believes other things also led to his demotion, including his support for a state ballot measure that sought to define marriage as limited to heterosexual couples and his request to rename the annual holiday party a "Christmas party."
"David had this reputation for being a Christian, for being a practicing one. He did not go around evangelizing or proselytizing. But if he found out that someone was a Christian he would say, `Oh that's interesting, what denomination are you?'" Becker said.
"He's not apologizing for who he is. He's an evangelical Christian."
In an emailed statement, JPL dismissed Coppedge's claims. In court papers, lawyers for the California Institute of Technology, which manages JPL for NASA, said Coppedge received a written warning because his co-workers complained of harassment. They also said Coppedge lost his "team lead" status because of ongoing conflicts with others.
Caltech lawyers contend Coppedge was one of two Cassini technicians and among 246 JPL employees let go last year due to planned budget cuts.
While the case has attracted interest because of the controversial nature of intelligent design, it is at its heart a straightforward discrimination case, said Eugene Volokh, a professor of First Amendment law at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law.
"The question is whether the plaintiff was fired simply because he was wasting people's time and bothering them in ways that would have led him to being fired regardless of whether it was about religion or whether he was treated worse based on the religiosity of his beliefs," said Volokh. "If he can show that, then he's got a good case."
Coppedge, who began working for JPL as a contractor in 1996 and was hired in 2003, is active in the intelligent design sphere and runs a website that interprets scientific discoveries through the lens of intelligent design. His father authored an anti-evolution book and founded a Christian outreach group.
He is also a board member for Illustra Media, a company that produces video documentaries examining the scientific evidence for intelligent design. The company produces the videos that Coppedge was handing out to co-workers, said Becker, his attorney.
His main duties at JPL were to maintain computer networks and troubleshoot technical problems for the mission. In 2000, he was named "team lead," serving as a liaison between technicians and managers for nearly a decade before being demoted in 2009.
He sued in April 2010 alleging religious discrimination, retaliation and harassment and amended his suit to include wrongful termination after losing his job last year.
Coppedge is seeking attorney's fees and costs, damages for wrongful termination and a statement from the judge that his rights were violated, said Becker.
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[url]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/11/suit-nasa-specialist-axed-intelligent-design-lawsuit_n_1338192.html?ncid=webmail3[/url]
Oh, and for extra fun:
[url]http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/03/11/former-nasa-specialist-claims-was-fired-over-intelligent-design/#comment[/url]
No, no, they didn't mean your religious beliefs, they just had to ship you off since your 'intelligent designs' were making everyone else look bad.
[img]http://i.cubeupload.com/NifUkB.jpg[/img]
What does the theory of evolution have to do with space flight
Was reading this on another forum, he was part of 246 planed redundancies anyway. It seems like he's just being an arse because he can.
[QUOTE]"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 Center for Science and Culture at the Seattle-based Discovery Institute.[/QUOTE]
Well Evolution is pretty much established scientific fact at this point, so it is a bit silly to say otherwise without proper evidence.
Nonetheless, people should not be losing their jobs for minor things like religious views. If he can design a space shuttle and do basically everything else a NASA team leader is meant to do, his ideas shouldn't even come into it.
Most important part right here:
[quote]"[U]The question is whether the plaintiff was fired simply because he was wasting people's time and bothering them in ways that would have led him to being fired regardless of whether it was about religion[/U] or [U]whether he was treated worse based on the religiosity of his beliefs[/U]," said Volokh. "If he can show that, then he's got a good case."[/quote]
To me it sounds like he was annoying co-workers, and that's excuse enough for the demotion (you can't be a leader if you fight with everyone else). There is a difference between believing something, and constantly trying to force it on the people around you (which is apparently what he was doing).
Handing out DVD's and consistently arguing with others about intelligent design when you're at work doesn't sound like he's not going around evangelizing (or whatever term they have for it). When you're at work, you're at work. Have some discussion all you like but handing out DVDs is taking it too far imo.
Also, there is a time and place for things. Especially as NASA is a scientific organisation, I would have thought religion is not an important matter.
Likewise, I work in a Catholic high school, and If I were to attempt to convert some of the religions staff (including my rather religious line manager & the headteacher) to atheism they would probably find some reason to have me out. I work in the IT department, religion does not impact on the work I do, so therefore I keep my beliefs and job separate. Its not rocket science (no pun intended).
First of all, NASA's budget is shit and is constantly getting cut, so they have to make layoffs to maintain current projects. Second, he even admits to arguing with other coworkers about it (bad thing to do regardless of the subject) and handing out DVDs on the matter, which I can't think of any work place that allows you to hand out material like that on any subject. They also apparently recieved several complaints from his coworkers about harassment, which is enough alone to be fired in many jobs. And he was demoted for fighting with his workers as well.
Its a pretty simple case and his religious views had nothing to do with it.
The issue with this is, that people don't understand the scientific field. And the reason why religion can be so easily refuted by science is because science knows how to measure the levels of our known universe.
The scientific field runs by a VERY strict code. That code is unbiased and does not pick out groups or ideas. Anything that goes against it, is called 'bad science'. Using this code, we have determined that the Miasma Theory is not true and micro-organisms is. Today, intelligent design follows bad science. Think of it like a machine, no matter which way you set it up, if you put Intelligent design into it, it'll come out 'bad science'.
That is why he was fired, not because of his idea, but his idea didn't fit with the code of science.
I could be an arrogant atheist and say "That's because it's obvious ID is complete bullshit" but that would be low.
[editline]12th March 2012[/editline]
Also, let me point out Coppenedge was a bit of a douche about it to. So that also added onto it.
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;35107125]What does the theory of evolution have to do with space flight[/QUOTE]
It is not even known to us whether a species can evolve out of their initial planet to Space, onto another planet perhaps, or just life in space station structures.
If evolution leads humans to that, then it has everything to do with our evolution which we lead.
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