ICC Note: Mark Armitage, who served as a scientist for California State University – Northridge, was fired in 2013 after publishing findings that challenged evolutionary theory. Although he simply stated that the findings should be investigated further, as opposed to suggesting alternative religious explanations, Armitage was removed from his position which led him to file a legal complaint against the school in 2014. Two years later, the lawsuit was recently settled and Armitage was given a significant financial settlement over the matter.
By Garrett Haley
10/10/2016 United States (Christian News Network) – An evangelical Christian scientist who was fired after discovering evidence that seemingly contradicted the evolutionary timeframe has been awarded a generous settlement after taking his case to court.
As previously reported, Mark Armitage was a scientist at California State University—Northridge (CSUN) who discovered soft tissues on a large triceratops horn that was believed to be at least 65 million years old. However, the discovery became mired in controversy when Armitage described his findings in a journal article.
“In the paper, I just presented the factual data,” Armitage said. “The only conclusions I drew were that ‘This needs to be investigated further. We have a lot of work to do.’”
Other scientists at the university were not pleased with Armitage’s discovery, evidently thinking that he was trying to promote evidence against evolution. His supervisor reportedly stormed into his lab on one occasion and shouted, “We will not tolerate your religion in this department!”
On Feb. 27, 2013, CSUN fired Armitage.
“Suffice it to say,” Armitage, who is an evangelical Christian, explained, “some people in the department didn’t appreciate [the soft tissue discovery], and somehow they seemed to work a way to have me very quickly removed from my position.”
