US university settles lawsuit with creationist

A former laboratory manager claims he was fired from California State University, Northridge due to his religious beliefs

October 11, 2016
Triceratops
Source: iStock

California State University, Northridge has settled a lawsuit brought by a former employee, who sued the university after claiming that it fired him over his creationist beliefs.

Mark Armitage was sacked from his position as manager of the biology department’s electron and confocal microscopy suite in 2013, two weeks after he published a paper about a triceratops horn, which he believed was just 4,000 years old and offered proof of his young-Earth creationist beliefs, according to Inside Higher Ed.

The following year, Mr Armitage sued the university claiming that faculty scientists did not want to be associated with a published creationist.

The university told Inside Higher Ed that its decision to not renew Mr Armitage’s contract was based on “budgetary considerations and a dwindling need for his services” and it settled the lawsuit for $399,500 (£322,500) to avoid the costs involved in a protracted legal battle.

It added that a large proportion of the settlement would cover Mr Armitage’s legal fees.

A YouTube video Mr Armitage published about the settlement on 1 October claims that he has been “vindicated by the [Los Angeles] courts” and his research “stands head and shoulders above all the other work that’s been found so far in soft tissue in dinosaur bones”.

ellie.bothwell@tesglobal.com

Register to continue

Why register?

  • Registration is free and only takes a moment
  • Once registered, you can read 3 articles a month
  • Sign up for our newsletter
Register
Please Login or Register to read this article.

Reader's comments (1)

Complex issue, unless terms are defined the complexities are -- well -- complex. Firstly, the Bible specifically states (Job 10:5) that God’s days are not to be equated to Man’s. Literal Bible. Secondly, the Bible specifically states that brambles don’t bear grapes etc. and species are reproductive units in their own right. So evolution was not by ‘common descent’ – species can not give rise to other species. Literal Bible.Thirdly, the Bible says that Noah sent out a pigeon (dove) which plucked a sprig from a growing olive tree. That immediately destroys “Noah’s Flood Geology”. Literal Bible. The only reason Young Earthism is a force in the world today is because ‘science, so called’ has exchanged truth for stupidity and religious garbaging. All respected scientists were creationist. Just not A.I.G. creationist. None of them subscribed to magic microbes, creative nothingses, spookscience. They were rationalists. Complex business. I am a geologist and find young earthism o.k. provided it isn't made into an article of religion. The man proved nothing so far with his remarkably preserved horn. If the thing was even only 6 thousand years old, it must have been mummified by some exceptional process. So -- what? He hasn't overthrown geology. If the dinosaur lived at the times of early Man he still hasn't overthrown geology. Remember the COELACANTH? Sort out the science, get the spooks out of the science classes. Then young earthism will recede. Evolution ocurred but it was according to the laws of science. It is part of the GENESIS account --- line and verse.

Sponsored