Court to Weigh University's Decision Not to Hire Astronomer

摘要

Is it possible to separate religious and scientific beliefs when it comes to evolution? A federal court will take up that question early next year in the case of Martin Gaskell, an astrophysicist who claims that the University of Kentucky (UK) denied him a job because he is an evangelical Christian. Pro-evolution advocates say the university was well within its rights. "It's an employment law case," says Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education, an organization in Oakland, California, that lobbies to preserve the teaching of evolution in public schools. "Can an employer discriminate based on the scientific knowledge of an employee?" she asks. "Well, yeah."