by Jason Szep
The Vancouver Sun (Canada), page C8
December 8, 2007
BOSTON — A Christian biologist is suing the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, claiming he was fired for refusing to accept evolution, lawyers involved in the case said Friday.
Nathaniel Abraham, an Indian national who describes him self as a “Bible- believing Christian,” said in the suit filed Monday in U. S. District Court in Boston that he was fired in 2004 because he would not accept evolution as scientific fact.
The latest academic spat over science and religion was first reported in The Boston Globe newspaper Friday. Gibbs Law Firm in Florida, which is representing Abraham, said he was seeking $500,000 in compensation.
The zebrafish specialist said his civil rights were violated when he was dismissed shortly after telling his superior he did not accept evolution because he believed the Bible presented a true account of human creation.
Creationists such as Abraham believe God made the world in six days, as the Bible’s Book of Genesis says.
Woods Hole, a U. S. government funded non-profit research centre on Cape Cod, said in a statement it firmly believed its actions and those of its employees in the case were “entirely lawful” and that it does not discriminate.
Abraham, who was dismissed eight months after he was hired, said he was willing to do research using evolutionary concepts but that he had been required to accept Darwin’s theory of evolution as scientific fact or lose his job.
