Sound The Trumpet : Questioning Evolution With Evidence Gets Professor Fired

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“Questioning Evolution With Evidence Gets Professor Fired”
by Prophecy New Watch
August 5th, 2014

According to California State University's mission statement, the university seeks to "advance and extend knowledge, learning, and culture..." and to "provide opportunities for individuals to develop intellectually, personally, and professionally". Their mission statement goes on to say that, in order to achieve these and other stated goals, the university promises that it "provides and environment in which scholarship, research, creative, artistic, and professional activity are valued and supported".

However, these lofty mission goals were put to the test recently when Mark Armitage, who worked as a researcher at the university's Northridge location and supervised the university's electron microscope laboratory, discovered evidence that contradicted the university's position on evolution.

Mr. Armitage, a respected scientist and a member of several respected professional organizations, including the American Society of Parasitologists, the Southern California Academy of Sciences, and the Microscopy Society of America, was conducting research on

Microscopy Society of America, the American Society of Parasitologists, and the Southern California Academy of Sciences, was conducting experiments on a triceratops horn, which he had discovered in 2012 in Montana. During the course of his examination of the triceratops horn, he placed it under a high-powered microscope and discovered the presence of soft tissue on the bones.

The presence of soft tissue on a dinosaur bone directly contradicts evolutionary theory because soft tissue indicates that the bone has not been fossilized. Evolutionary theory teaches that it takes millions of years for bones to become fossilized, and the commonly-held evolutionary explanation of dinosaurs is that they perished some sixty million years ago.

Professor Armitage is not the only scientist who has discovered the presence of soft tissue on dinosaur bones. Paleontologist Mary Schweitzer discovered the presence of soft tissue on tyrannosaurus rex discoveries in 1997, 2005, and 2007. She went on to publish a scientific report on a hadrosaur in Science magazine, wherein her results were verified by a third party to offset the challenges her research was getting from the scientific community. Her research showed that, according to accepted biochemical decay rates, the soft tissue "would be dust by now", if the millions of years figure was used to date the find. In other words, the dinosaur bones she found, with the soft tissue, could not be millions of years old either.

The scientific community has always been very guarded on the subject of evolution, and has been extremely defensive against anything that goes against their established theories. There have been accounts of destruction of bones, falsification of data, and suppression of evidence that goes against evolutionary theory over the years. The peppered moth story, told in textbooks for decades, was shown to be falsified to support natural selection.

When Professor Armitage discovered the presence of soft tissue under the microscope, he initially shared his findings with his students, who were fascinated by the findings. One of these students, however, reported the findings to Professor Armitage's supervisor, who was not amused. According to Armitage, the supervisor stormed into his office and declared to Armitage that "[w]e will not tolerate your religion in this department!" While Armitage is a professing Christian, the goal of any science department should be to uncover the truth, regardless of the religious views of the scientist making the discovery. However, the exclamatory remark by the supervisor reveals that his anti-Christian bias, and his own religious following of evolutionary theory, is far more important than his own scientific curiosity.

After the outburst by his supervisor, Professor Armitage was promised by the head of the biology department that his religious views would be respected and that the supervisor's outburst was an "isolated incident", the working environment for Professor Armitage got progressively worse.

Professor Armitage published his findings concerning the presence of soft tissue in a peer-reviewed journal, Acta Histochemica. He explained that the purpose of his article was to merely present the evidence that he discovered of the soft tissue. His article did not promote creationism, or promote his Christian worldview in any way. In fact, he did not offer any conclusions in the article. He explained that: “The only conclusions I drew were that ‘This needs to be investigated further. We have a lot of work to do.’ And that was it.”

It would seem that a mere presentation of factual data and the call to investigate the matter further would not evoke a strong reaction from the scientific community, or the university which is supposedly dedicated to scientific research and "extend[ing] knowledge, learning, and culture", but he was told by the university that his article's findings were not acceptable to the university. No one has questioned the factual nature of his findings, but just that the facts he presented are not to be presented.

California State University has 447,000 students and 45,000 faculty and staff members in its 23 campuses across California. At the Northridge campus alone, almost 37,000 students attend the school. Their budget reflects an anticipated 5% increase in enrollment for the coming academic year. However, one has to question the academic credentials of any university that so guards against the dissemination of the truth to its students, and to the scientific community as a whole.

Armitage explained that two weeks after the publication of his article, he was told by the head of the department that his three-year appointment was temporary. He was told that there wasn't sufficient funding for his position and he was dismissed. At no time prior was he told that his appointment was temporary, or that funding would be an issue in continuing his position.
Professor Armitage, who has been a scientist for over thirty years, is now suing the university, with the help of the Pacific Justice Institute, because he believes that his termination was wrongfully based on his religious beliefs and the publication of his peer-reviewed article.

Brad Dacus, who is with the Pacific Justice Institute, stated that Professor Armitage's dismissal based on his religious views is "completely inappropriate and illegal". He is even more concerned, however, with the university's "attempt to silence speech at a public university". Both are subjects of concern in any publically-funded university, particularly in light of the ongoing attacks against conservative and Christian free speech at universities across the United States, as well as campuses in Europe.

Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13