Evolution is on trial again. A former postdoctoral fellow at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has sued the Cape Cod research center, claiming his 2004 dismissal resulted from his religious beliefs.

Nathaniel Abraham was dismissed from Mark Hahn's research lab after refusing to work on the "evolutionary aspects" of his assigned project, according to the Globe. Hahn is a senior research scientist known for studying the effects of toxins on aquatic animals, using a hybrid "comparative/evolutionary" and molecular approach.

Abraham was represented in the US District Court in Boston by David C. Gibbs, III, the general counsel of the Christian Law Association. (Current project: "Keeping Christ in Christmas.") The suit claims that Abraham's civil rights were violated when he lost his job and that he suffered harassment.

But does Abraham have a right to keep a job that he refuses to do? His position was funded by a National Institutes of Health grant that included evolution research as a central component. In the scientific world, the funds for your position are directly tied to the research you are doing. If you can't do the research, you shouldn't get the money.

Bostonist is not an oracle, but we don't see Abraham winning this case. But that shouldn't bother him. He has a tenure-track position at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, and, if that falls through, there's an opening at the Texas Education Agency, where the science curriculum director lost her job for simply mentioning evolution.

Image of heat-ray Darwin photoshopped by Bostonist