Scopes

 

  On this day in 1925, biology teacher John Scopes was found guilty of teaching human evolution and was fined $100.  He did not pay the fine. Evolution is now taught in public schools in all fifty states. Some biology teachers also teach creationism and intelligent design.

  Creationism says the myths in the Bible are literally true, something the people who wrote the Bible did not believe. Intelligent Design says God uses evolution. Darwin believed something like this. The debate these days is over how much of each belief we're going to dole out in the schools.

  Tennessee state representative John Butler believed that a belief in evolution was opposed to Christianity and undermined the foundation of the Government. He convinced the legislature to pass his bill and the governor signed it in March, 1925. The state also mandated biology teachers use a textbook that taught evolution, so teachers were in a dilemma.

  The American Civil Liberties Union immediately looked for an opportunity to test the law. They just needed a law breaker. The town of Dayton, Tennessee, population at the time: 1700, wanted to publicize itself and local teacher John Scopes, age 24, agreed to be the sacrificial lamb.

  Scopes was the high school football coach and a substitute teacher. He said he wasn't sure he had taught evolution, but he thought he had gone over a chart on evolution with his students. He said he thought evolution was true, "but not the monkey business." The prosecution found three students to swear Scopes had taught evolution in class.

  The defense team was led by Clarence Darrow, a Chicago attorney, well known for his involvement in prominent cases. The prosecution was led by William Jennings Bryan, three time presidential candidate. In his later years Bryan became a religious figure advocating prohibition and opposition to evolution.

  The trial quickly got out of hand and Dayton was overwhelmed by spectators and press from all over the U.S. and Europe. It was the first trial in the U.S. to be broadcast over radio. There were chimpanzees on the courthouse lawn. It was truly a media circus.

  The trial lasted from July 10 to 21, 1925 and at one point had to be moved outside because of the intense heat in the packed courtroom. The debate between Darrow and Bryan was hot as well. Bryan said Darrow was trying "to cast ridicule on everybody who believes in the Bible.  Darrow responded "we have the purpose of preventing bigots and ignoramuses from controlling the education of the United States.

  The judge directed the jury to find Scopes guilty which, after deliberating for nine minutes, they did. Scopes was fined $100 but an appeals court found the judge had made an error and dismissed the fine. The appeals court also declared the Butler Act constitutional. It stayed on the books till 1967 when it was repealed by the Tennessee legislature.

    Most Christians were opposed to evolution and the theory was downplayed in school textbooks. It took Sputnik to convince America that science needed to be objective if we were going to keep up with the Soviets. Now that the Soviets are gone, science is again jumping through hoops in the political circus.

The cousins get-together.