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Monday, August 23, 2004

University of Atheist Geeks and Dweebs Sued for Religious Discrimination

If the employee's reported accounts of the incidents are true, I hope he takes MIT to the cleaners.

``Employees and/or supervisors at MIT Lincoln Lab have harassed Peterson because of his religious beliefs (Christian), including assaulting him with a chemical, vandalizing and stealing his property, tampering with the machines he was working on and making verbal threats,'' the suit says.

The nine-page lawsuit filed earlier this month also names Peterson's union, the Research Development and Technical Employees' Union, claiming leaders took part in the harassment and did not represent him properly in grievance procedures in 2003.

Peterson claims the trouble began in 1987 when he and another Christian employee began meeting during breaks to read and discuss the Bible. He says he was told not to bring his Bible to work again.

When he complained about workers playing radios in the lab in 1988, one man retaliated by placing a radio in front of him playing the Stones' song (incorrectly listed in the lawsuit as ``Symphony for the Devil'').

His own boss responded by turning up his own radio and later paraded around in a phony ``clergyman's collar,'' according to the lawsuit.

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