The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that belief in radically unconventional scientific ideas may merit the same workplace protections as freedom of religion. The issue arose after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office fired one of its patent examiners, Paul A. LaViolette, allegedly because he believes in the existence of alien radio communication, that the zodiac is a "time capsule message" warning of emanations from the galactic center (in the words of his website, etheric.com), and because he has similarly strong views on the Sphinx, the Tarot, Atlantis, and dabbles in the "cold fusion" theory of spontaneous energy generation.

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