Judge Gets Word From Creationist’s Allies : Beliefs: Federal courthouse flooded with protests of ruling against Capistrano educator who sued over being forced to teach evolution in his science class.

The federal judge handling the failed lawsuit of a “born-again” Christian who sought to teach creationism has received at least 100 phone calls and as many letters since Monday from believers seeking to “put in their vote” for John Peloza.

A religious radio program, the Irvine-based “Bible Answer Man” that airs on KKLA (99.5 AM), had urged listeners to contact the judge who had dismissed Peloza’s case, but who will decide Monday if Peloza must pay attorneys’ fees.

They complied in numbers that flabbergasted the court employees.

“This has really never happened before,” said a court employee. “But then you don’t have people giving your number over the radio every day.”

Peloza, a fundamentalist Christian and a high school biology teacher, sued the Capistrano Unified School District, claiming that the administration was forcing him to teach evolution. Last month, the judge, David W. Williams, dismissed the case; Monday’s hearing is to decide whether Peloza must pay the district’s court costs.

Hank Hanegraaff, an ordained minister who hosts the daily “Bible Answer Man” program, said he asked listeners to call the judge because he thought Williams had misunderstood the issues. “He’s never really looked at the facts. He’s saying John brought a frivolous lawsuit. All John is saying is, ‘I don’t want to teach something as fact if there are no verifiable facts behind it.’ ”

Hanegraaff said he hopes that Williams will “rethink the issue.”

Williams received 96 letters Monday, 15 on Tuesday and 36 on Wednesday, said a court employee in Los Angeles, who asked not to be named. The calls “must be in the hundreds,” she said. In addition, Hanegraaff has asked supporters to come to the courthouse on Monday.

Court employees who declined to be named said some callers were pleasant, others were arrogant, but most were simply confused.

Many of the callers mistakenly thought that they could lobby the judge, an employee said, while others “just call saying they want to put in their vote” for Peloza, she said.

“I actually instructed one guy to go to the plaintiff’s attorney and obtain a copy of the opinion. They need to understand that this has nothing to do with popular opinion. It’s based on legal issues.”

No one has filed a legal motion asking Williams to reconsider. The case is on appeal.

Some thought that they might get Williams removed. They asked for his boss, or when he is up for election. As a federal judge, Williams is appointed for life.