Inherit the Truth

"Did humans descend from a lower order of animals or are they a special creation of God, as the Bible says?

That was the central question when John Scopes was tried for violating a new Tennessee law that prohibited teaching any theory of human origins that violated the account of creation found in Genesis in the Bible. Statesman and orator William Jennings Bryan argued for the biblical account and prominent defense attorney Clarence Darrow argued for evolution in a hot, crowded Dayton courtroom July 10-21, 1925."

I got so excited about the arrival of my new nephew, that I forgot to tell you about our visit to The Scopes Trial Festival last weekend. Our Little Man became interested in the history of the trial after listening to an episode of Jonathan Park (http://www.visionforum.com/search/productlist.aspx?search=jonathan+park) ... especially when he realized where Dayton is located. So we marked the festival date on our calendar to attend. How little I knew about the trial that "captured the attention of the world". http://www.bryan.edu/historical.html

Background of the Scopes Trial:

"It was January 21, 1925. Rep. John Washington Butler introduced to the Tennessee House of Representatives House Bill No. 185 which would make it 'unlawful for any teacher in any of the ...public schools of the state... to teach any theory that denies the story of the Diving Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals.'

On Friday, March 13, 1925, the Tennessee Senate, by a vote of 24-6, concurred with the House. Governor Austin Peay signed the Butler Act into law March 21.

In 1924, William Jennings Bryan, former Secretary of State, Democratic party leader, and Chautauqua orator, had lectured in Nashville on the topic 'Is the Bible True?' During debate on the anti-evolution bill, that lecture was distributed to members of the General Assembly and was credited with helping win its passage.

Shortly after the bill became law, in the New York office of the American Civil Liberties Union, a decision was made to test the validity of the law, and a news release was issued announcing the ACLU's interest in finding a Tennessee teacher willing to participate in the case.

On May 4, The Chattanooga Times carried a story about the plan, a story read by George Rappleyea, a metallurgical engineer with the Cumberland Coal and Iron Co. Mr. Rappleyea took the paper to Robinson's Drug Store where he and the proprietor, F.E. Robinson discussed the matter at length.

The next day, during a 'chance' meeting at Robinson's Drug Store, Mr. Rappleyea, Rhea County School Supt. Walter White, city officials, and lawyers, made the decision to test the law. Rhea Central High School teacher John Scopes agreed to be the defendant and was served with a warrant charging him with violating the statue.

Mr. Bryan, in part because of his influence in securing passage of the anti-evolution bill and in part because of his national stature, was invited to assist the prosecution.

The day after Mr. Bryan announced that he would come to Dayton, Clarence Darrow, one of America's foremost defense attorneys, was urged by journalist H.L. Mencken to offer his services. By the end of that week, Mr. Darrow and New York divorce lawyer Dudley Field Malone volunteered to assist Dr. John R. Neal, an attorney from Spring City, Tenn., with the defense.

The confrontation between Bryan and Darrow was only one factor which caught the attention of the world in 1925; the modernist-fundamentalist religious controversy over the authority , even the relevance, of the Bible to 'modern' life was another. This debate within the protestant churches, particularly in the three years before the trial, has spilled over into the popular press and stayed there through the time of the Scopes Trial.

The religious aspect of the trial also raised the prospect in 1925 that a victory by the fundamentalists might coalesce into a political party and propel Mr. Bryan into a fourth run for the White House, a prospect frightening to his antagonists.

Of course, there was a scientific question: Did man evolve from a lower species or was he created by God? That question reflected 65 years of increasing conflict between the then-developing theory of evolution and the 'young earth' view of creation generally held by the non-academic element of the church.

Into this cauldron plunged John Scopes, William Jennings Bryan, Clarence Darrow, and the supporting cast of Friday, July 10, 1925, as Judge John T. Raulston gavelled his court to order."
taken from: "Inherit the Truth" published by Bryan College