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Published On: Tue, Jul 29th, 2014

Lawsuit: Cal State fired Dr Mark Armitage, research pointed to Creationism

A scientist at California State University has reportedly filed a lawsuit after been terminated because his research supports creationism. The lawsuits says the university discriminated against his religious beliefs as they stated “We are not going to tolerate your religion in this department!”
 
Dr Mark Armitage says he was fired for determining a triceratops like this one was in Montana 4,000 years ago photo/Houston Museum of Natural Science via wikimedia commons

Dr Mark Armitage says he was fired for determining a triceratops like this one was in Montana 4,000 years ago photo/Houston Museum of Natural Science via wikimedia commons

Dr. Mark Armitage, a 30-year published scientist, found evidence that dinosaurs may have inhabited earth 4,000 years ago during the Hell Creek Formation excavation in Montana. Armitage unearthed the the largest triceratops horn ever discovered. The scientist examined the soft tissue of the horn, believing it to be 4,000 years old at most. Previous research suggested that dinosaurs became extinct 60 million years ago.

 
This conflict of ideology prompted a Cal State official to shout, “We are not going to tolerate your religion in this department!” in regard to the creationist research. 
 
Brad Dacus of the Pacific Justice Institute said, “Terminating an employee because of their religious views is completely inappropriate and illegal. But doing so in an attempt to silence scientific speech at a public university is even more alarming. This should be a wakeup call and warning to the entire world of academia.”
 
Armitage was terminated the school abruptly claimed his appointment at the university of 38 months had been temporary, and claimed a lack of funding for his position.

The university’s claim contradicted its prior statements and documents, says the Justice Institute, a legal defense organization specializing in the defense of religious freedom, parental rights, and other civil liberties.

“It has become apparent that ‘diversity’ and ‘intellectual curiosity,’ so often touted as hallmarks of a university education, do not apply to those with a religious point of view,” said Michael Peffer, staff attorney with PJI’s southern California office. “This suit was filed, in part, to vindicate those ideals.”

 
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  1. Elisur Perez says:

    SO WHAT´S NEW ABOUT THIS CASE?

  2. Lawsuit: Cal State fired Dr. Mark Armitage, research pointed to Creationism | Rod D. Martin says:

    […] Laura Jones The Global Dispatch 29 July […]

  3. Dr. GS Hurd says:

    It would seem that Ms. Laura Jones has not read any of the relevant documents of the case. For starters, Mr. Armitage has no doctorate, the fossil horn was not the largest “ever discovered” even if we limit the search to the Hell Creek Formation, Armitage was not hired as a scientist- he was a microscope technician who supervised student labs, and assisted faculty.

    It is obvious that Ms. Jones does not understand the arcane set of academic job classifications. Armitage was a “permanent part time technician.” That means he would never legally be a full-time employee regardless of his hours, or years worked. It means that he would never be promoted. It means that he could be terminated from employment at any time for any reason- or none. The addition of “permanent” to the job title meant that he got benefits which is very generous.

    This is a bottom rung job. This is lower than a teaching assistant.

    A part time technician does not get to do independent research using University facilities.

    It is also obvious that she has not actually read the “research” paper supposedly at the center of this little storm.

    Mark Hollis Armitage, Kevin Lee Anderson
    2013 “Soft sheets of fibrillar bone from a fossil of the supraorbital horn of the dinosaur Triceratops horridus” Acta Histochemica, Volume 115, Issue 6, Pages 603–608

    I have. It is garbage. The journal will be humiliated as soon as I find time to review it for publication.

    But, Armitage would not have been fired just for publishing garbage. Reading the article showed a huge glaring reason to fire him. It was the amount of equipment, staff time, and lab stockroom supplies that were used on the one hand, and the total lack of funding or authorization on the other. And, as this “research” is already published, there is no possible way that those costs can be recovered. Armitage potentially stole $thousands$ from the University, unless he paid out of pocket. (I’ll take bets he didn’t).

    That will get you fired pronto.

  4. CBDunkerson says:

    David, every single species in existence today is an example of macro-evolution. Indeed, beyond being obvious from the fossil record and inherent in evolution itself, macro-evolution has also been DIRECTLY OBSERVED in numerous cases;

    http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-speciation.html

  5. David says:

    Four well-known technical books are Levinton’s 2nd edition of “Macroevolution” (2001), Gould’s “Structure of Evolutionary Theory” (2002), Valentine’s “On the Origin of Phyla” (2004), and Futuyma’s 2nd edition of “Evolution,” 2009.

    How many examples of macroevolution are mentioned in the 4 books?

    Zero.

    Why? No examples are known to exist.

    Creation or Evolution Does it Matter?– Dr. Ed Neeland
    http://kcc.sermon.net/main/main/5798357

    *
    Creation or Evolution? What does the evidence support? — Dr. Ed Neeland
    Published on Mar 18, 2014

    Part 1
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkTF7qizsp0

    Part 2
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDIA06alQBE

  6. Chris Weiss says:

    Since it has already been shown in court that creationism is not science, it would seem this “scientist” was justly fired for incompetence. The evidence that the earth is older than 4k years is visible in the night sky… the end.

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