Judge: Employee not let go over intelligent design
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former computer specialist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory was not dismissed because he advocated his belief in intelligent design while at work, a Superior Court judge has tentatively ruled.
Judge Ernest Hiroshige said Thursday he is leaning in favor of JPL's argument that David Coppedge instead was let go because he was combative and did not keep his skills sharp.
Hiroshige, who presided over the lawsuit's trial in April, ordered a final ruling to that effect be drawn up and distributed within 30 days.
Coppedge's attorney, William Becker, declined to comment until the final ruling is issued. JPL officials also had no immediate comment.
Coppedge, a self-described evangelical Christian, had worked on NASA's Cassini mission to explore Saturn for 15 years until he was dismissed in 2011.
In his wrongful termination suit, Coppedge claimed he was demoted in 2009, then let go for engaging his co-workers in conversations about intelligent design and for handing out DVDs on the topic while at work. Intelligent design is the belief that life is too complex to have developed through evolution alone.
Becker argued at trial that a supervisor told Coppedge to "stop pushing your religion," and that Coppedge was retaliated against for disputing a written warning and filing a lawsuit against the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
JPL attorney Cameron Fox, however, contended Coppedge was a stubborn and disconnected employee who decided not to heed warnings to get additional training, even when it became clear the Cassini mission would be downsized and computer specialist positions eliminated.
Coppedge often was confrontational and insensitive to customers and colleagues, who had complained about his behavior and his advocacy of intelligent design, Fox said.
Coppedge is active in the intelligent design sphere and runs a website that interprets scientific discoveries through the lens of intelligent design. His father wrote an anti-evolution book and founded a Christian outreach group.
Coppedge also is 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, Becker said.
Judge Ernest Hiroshige said Thursday he is leaning in favor of JPL's argument that David Coppedge instead was let go because he was combative and did not keep his skills sharp.
Hiroshige, who presided over the lawsuit's trial in April, ordered a final ruling to that effect be drawn up and distributed within 30 days.
Coppedge's attorney, William Becker, declined to comment until the final ruling is issued. JPL officials also had no immediate comment.
Coppedge, a self-described evangelical Christian, had worked on NASA's Cassini mission to explore Saturn for 15 years until he was dismissed in 2011.
In his wrongful termination suit, Coppedge claimed he was demoted in 2009, then let go for engaging his co-workers in conversations about intelligent design and for handing out DVDs on the topic while at work. Intelligent design is the belief that life is too complex to have developed through evolution alone.
Becker argued at trial that a supervisor told Coppedge to "stop pushing your religion," and that Coppedge was retaliated against for disputing a written warning and filing a lawsuit against the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
JPL attorney Cameron Fox, however, contended Coppedge was a stubborn and disconnected employee who decided not to heed warnings to get additional training, even when it became clear the Cassini mission would be downsized and computer specialist positions eliminated.
Coppedge often was confrontational and insensitive to customers and colleagues, who had complained about his behavior and his advocacy of intelligent design, Fox said.
Coppedge is active in the intelligent design sphere and runs a website that interprets scientific discoveries through the lens of intelligent design. His father wrote an anti-evolution book and founded a Christian outreach group.
Coppedge also is 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, Becker said.
Good ruling. Do stupid s*^t at work and p^s* off coworkers and clients, deserve end result. As It Should Be.
Sheesh I thought this BS was ruled not science way back in DOVER... that NOVA program of the Intelligent Design trial was epic! ... trying to call ID science is insulting...
"Confrontational and combative" are not attributes most employers would tolerate, regardless of the personal reasons driving such behavior.
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Good for the judge.Â
Of course, intelligent design COULD include the "Ancient Astronaut Hypothesis," right?
Many people have a hard time living with the unexplainable. Scientists temporarily accept the unexplainable but they invest their life's work to uncover it. Less patient types just invent an explanation which often involves one or more Gods. Columbus with his knowledge in astronomy used this phenomenon to his benefit when trapped in Jamaica. He predicted a lunar eclipse would take place on Thursday, Feb. 29, 1504, as a sign that his, Columbus' God was angry with the natives for not providing enough food to Columbus and his men. After the predictions came true, the natives were terrified of Columbus' God and the rest is history.  It's still the same today.Â
I really don't give a hoot what they believe in or what they practice as far as religion, but keep it out of the work place. You do not have a captive audience to foster your belief's nor do you have the right to try to push them on someone else. You are there to work and do your job. If you can't do it then you get fired. I wish people would quit waving the discrimination card every time they get the sack or reprimanded for doing what he was. Everyone can believe what they want or do what they want, but no in the work place. The boss is not paying you to run around thumping your bible and praising the lord.
"stubborn and disconnected employee...
One look at that face should tell you.
Past 40, you get the face you deserve.
Don't most businesses have rules against proselytizing? Intelligent Design is, by definition, a religious concept. I'm not sure why his lawyer thought he had a case, if by his own admission he was foisting religious materials upon people who didn't want them.
 @Sutekh What's your definition of religion if you are so smart?  I thought this was a free country?  Darwinism is a religion too.  But maybe you haven't figured that out!!
 @HullenbeckCowl Darwin's Therory of Evolution is not a religion, it's a scientific therory based of actual study, investigation, facts, observation and debate. Religion is nothing more than bedtime stories handed down, rewrote, translated, rewrote again, and shat out the back side of some low brow, knuckle dragging nimrod that was clever enough to get all you sheep to believe it...and give away your money to him.
 @HullenbeckCowl Intelligent Design says that certain biological traits could not have occurred through evolution and that some kind of supernatural intelligence is responsible instead.
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Sounds like religion to me.
 @HullenbeckCowl Darwinism? There is NO religion called Darwinism. Nor is a belief in evolution a religion.. It is clearly YOU that doesn't understand the definition of religion.
 @HullenbeckCowl  @Sutekh This might be a free country, but it is not when you are taking money for doing a job. If that job has rules then you must abide by them if you want your pay. He chose not to and was terminated.
I read up on this story when he filed his lawsuit. If he had been pushing Amway, politics or anything else the way he was pushing his religion, he could have and should have been fired.Â
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 @WhatRJDid When I worked for the State one of my co-worker's wife was selling Amway, he was using State time to set up the parties...he got 2 warnings, then saw the light when they gave him the 3rd one.
I have to say that in the 27 years I worked at WSDOT I never knew the religion of any of the people who worked there, except for one Jewish man who wore a yarmulke, and a Muslim who had his prayer rug in the storage room and used it during his breaks.
And they shared the same office and worked together quite well...