The Scopes Monkey
Trial of 1925: Fundamentalism vs. Modernism
I.
Background
a.
Though evolution had been taught in Tennessee's
public schools
since the 1900s, fundamentalists brought challenges to it in the 1920s,
including a proposed Constitutional amendment banning it from public
schools
i.
Five
Fundamentals promoted by some Protestants (virgin birth of Jesus,
bodily
resurrection, truth of miracles of the Bible, substitutionary atonement
of the
cross, inerrancy of the Bible)
in
opposition to what they saw as modernism or a watering down of faith
ii.
W.
J. Bryan and others were opposed to evolution, not just for its
conflict with
Genesis, but because of the harmful effects of social Darwinism
b.
The Butler Act, passed in 1925, made it illegal to
teach in
the public universities or schools in Tennessee "any theory that denies
the story of divine creation as taught by the Bible and to teach
instead that
man was descended from a lower order of animal"
II.
Challenging the Butler Act
a.
John T. Scopes, a 24-yr. old football coach and
part-time
substitute teacher was persuaded by a group of Dayton town boosters
meeting in
the drug store to challenge the law, thus bringing publicity to Dayton
b.
Scopes was charged, arrested, and found guilty of
violating
the Butler Act and ordered to pay a fine of $100.
III.
The Trial (July 1925)
a.
Clarence Darrow and the ACLU defended Scopes in an
attempt to
expose what they saw as narrow-mindedness and religious bigotry
b.
W. J. Bryan aided the prosecution, seeing the
Scopes Trial as
a means to advocate for fundamentalism and counter the rise of
evolutionary
thinking
c.
Since none of Darrow's scientific witnesses were
allowed to
testify, he called Bryan to the stand to testify as an expert on the
Bible and
exposed Bryan's narrow interpretation through an effective
cross-examination
IV.
Media Attention
a.
First trial broadcast on the radio. Station WGN in
Chicago
placed a microphone and announcer in the courtroom
b.
Court testimony published daily in newspapers
across the
country. Front page news each day in The New York Times
c.
Baltimore Sun reporter
H.L. Mencken wrote blistering attacks on the prosecution's case
V.
Modern Repercussions
a.
The Butler Act was finally repealed in Tennessee
in1967.
b.
Several laws and school board actions prohibiting
the teaching
of evolution as fact have been overturned by courts
i.
Epperson
v. Arkansas (1968)—states can't prohibit the teaching of evolution in
public schools
ii.
Edwards v. Aguillard (1987)—teaching creation science violates
the 1st
amendment
iii.
Kansas
State Board of Education (1999)—evolution challenged repeatedly in
state's curriculum
iv.
Kitzmiller
v. Dover (2005)—intelligent
design is
religion and not science