DESPITE A STELLAR RESEARCH RECORD, Iowa State University astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez is being forced out of his job for the expression–outside the classroom–of an inconvenient personal belief.

In 2004, Gonzalez co-wrote a book called The Privileged Planet. He argued that life on earth and our ability to make scientific discoveries about the cosmos depend on a host of incredibly improbable planetary conditions–the preponderance of which suggested intelligent design rather than cosmic accident as the explanation for the universe.