CREATIONIST FIRED BY SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

Copyright, 1990. The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

By KILEY ARMSTRONG

Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- A widely published writer on scientific topics says

Scientific American magazine wooed him, then left him at the altar

because he believes in the biblical account of creation.

Forrest M. Mims III alleged Wednesday that an editor at the respected

publication asked if he'd like to take over its column about amateur

experiments and rejected him after learning of his beliefs.

Mims, 46, of Seguin, Texas, insisted his own writing is unbiased and

said he has never written about creationism.

"I've wanted this opportunity for 20 years," he said. "To have the

opportunity and then lose it because of what I do on Sunday is

absolutely incredible."

Scientific American publisher John Moehling refused to address Mims'

allegations in detail but said, "We don't discriminate in our pages

among the people who work here or write for us.

Mims said that he has complained to two professional societies, which

"said if I identified them they would drop the complaints."

Mims has written in more than 60 publications, including Science

Digest, The American Journal of Physics and National Geographic World, a

sister publication of National Geographic.

He said that in 1989 a Scientific American editor expressed

enthusiasm for his work and asked if he'd like to become the magazine's

"Amateur Scientist" columnist.

He said he canceled practically all his writing assignments and was

flown to New York, where Scientific American staffers congratulated him

for getting the job.

But the editor who invited him there suddenly grew cold when Mims

mentioned he'd written for Christian magazines on such topics as "how to

organize bicycle trips for church kids," the writer said.

The editor asked if Mims accepted Darwin's theory of evolution, Mims

said. "I replied that I did not."

Later, he said, the editor warned him he would be fired or docked in

pay if he "ever wrote anything about creationism for any magazine." The

editor ended the meeting by telling Mims he had not made up his mind

whom to hire, Mims said.

The magazine ended up publishing three of his columns this year:

about safely observing sunspots, about monitoring ultraviolet radiation,

and about taking aerial photographs from helium-filled trash bags.

Mims now edits a new amateur science magazine, Science Probe!