Intelligent design proponent takes Nasa to court over job

A COMPUTER specialist at Nasa’s jet propulsion laboratory (JPL) is going to court over allegations that his employment was wrongfully terminated because of his belief in intelligent design.

David Coppedge, who worked as a team leader on the Cassini mission exploring Saturn and its moons, claims he was discriminated against because he engaged co-workers in conversations about intelligent design and handed out DVDs on the idea while at work.

Intelligent design is the belief that a higher power must have had a hand in creation because life is too complex to have developed through evolution alone.

In a statement, JPL dismissed Mr Coppedge’s claims. In court papers, lawyers said Mr Coppedge received a written warning because his co-workers complained of harassment.