Forty-six-year-old Forrest M. Mims III of Seguin, Texas, is a veteran science writer. Over the past 20 years, his articles and letters about science and technology have appeared in more than 60 newspapers, magazines, and journals, including the American Journal of Physics, Physics Today, Science Digest, Scientific American, National Geographic World, Fortune, and the Wall Street Journal.

Mims, an amateur scientist with a degree in government, is also an evangelical Christian who believes in the biblical account of creation and, thus, rejects the scientific concept of evolution. This, he contends, is why he was denied an opportunity last fall to become the regular writer of Scientific American's "The Amateur Scientist" column.

"Not once during this entire controversy has anyone from Scientific American questioned my ability to write the column," Mims noted in a phone interview with The Scientist. Indeed, last year, the magazine published three of his previously written columns...

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