Arvada pastor and KLTT radio show host Bob Enyart said his program “Real Science Friday” is a direct challenge to — not an imitation of — the popular National Public Radio show of almost the same name.

Enyart is being sued for trademark infringement and cybersquatting in New York state and federal courts by the NPR show’s producers at ScienceFriday Inc.

Representatives of the show “Science Friday,” hosted by journalist Ira Flatow, say the similarity in names is confusing people and sometimes diverting them to Enyart’s website, kgov.com.

Enyart is the self-described fundamentalist Christian pastor of the 60-member Denver Bible Church. He believes the world’s age is measured in thousands, not billions, of years because the Bible tells him so and, he said, scientific evidence backs it up.

Imitation, in this case, is the sincerest form of challenge, Enyart said. His science-talk show started in 1991, but he renamed it “Real Science Friday” in 2006 to push back against mainstream science journalism.

Enyart and co-host Fred Williams, also named in the suit, say they are out to debunk conventional schools of scientific thought, such as Darwinism and other “old earth” theories. They often host and debate scientists on the program.

“No, I do not believe your ancestors were apes,” the 51-year-old Enyart said about evolution.

He will leave technicalities about trademark law to lawyers, he said, because he has faith in his right to free speech.

ScienceFriday Inc. says it’s protecting its federally registered rights. It not only airs the radio show on 300 NPR stations; it also produces podcasts and offers extensive online content.

“We have spent 20 years plus building the name of ‘Science Friday’ and consider ourselves a trusted source of science information,” said ScienceFriday Inc. spokesman Christian Skotte. “We have more than 2 million listeners a week. We want to make sure we are protecting our reputation.”

Enyart said he suspects another motive.

“We think Ira Flatow is a little bit jealous,” Enyart said. “For example, when people want to find out the latest science — like finds of dinosaur soft tissues — they come to ‘Real Science Friday.’ We beat out a lot of science sites.”

A Google search of “dinosaur soft tissues” brings up Smithsonian Magazine first on the list, but Enyart’s site is fourth — well ahead of National Geographic’s and NPR’s.

Enyart is interested in dinosaur soft tissues, unearthed in the mid-2000s and written up in the respected journal Science in 2005, because such things as blood vessels, bone cells and elastic tissues aren’t expected to survive fossilization — if dinosaurs really are around 65 million years old.

To creationists such as Enyart, who believe Earth is several thousand years old, these rare finds are compelling evidence that Earth is young.

“It’s the greatest paleontological discovery of the century, and hardly anyone knows about it,” Enyart said. “We think Ira Flatow is irresponsible for dismissing this story.”

Skotte said ScienceFriday Inc. isn’t out to debate Enyart over what is real science and what is junk science. Its claims are of a legal nature.

The suit, filed Nov. 9 in New York Supreme Court and in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, claims using the name “Real Science Friday” and a knockoff logo to promote Enyart’s radio show and website is a violation of ScienceFriday’s rights. Enyart also uses them in connection with the YouTube video-sharing site.

Enyart told The Denver Post he received a very polite e-mail from Flatow in 2009 asking him to stop using the name “Real Science Friday.”

“We didn’t want to provoke an argument, so we didn’t respond,” Enyart said.

Now, the suit is demanding that Enyart stop using the name and logo; purge them from any other Internet outlets, such as YouTube and Facebook; transfer the Internet domain; and surrender CDs and other materials for sale bearing the name or logo. The suit also asks for Enyart’s financial records and seeks financial damages of not less than $100,000 pursuant to the Anticyberspace Squatting Consumer Protection Act.

Enyart said his radio program on KLTT-670 AM and podcasts have several thousand listeners.

One post on his website said the suit threatens his and other ministries by using the law as “a weapon to silence God’s word that He is our Creator.”

Electa Draper: 303-954-1276, edraper@denverpost.com or twitter.com/electadraper