Jul 23rd, 2008
Posted by Ian Thompson, ACLU at 5:20pm	Religion & Belief

It Was 83 Years Ago This Week…

This week marks 83 years since a jury in tiny Dayton, Tennessee convicted and fined $100 a teacher by the name of John T. Scopes, a man who had the courage and determination of spirit to challenge a state law forbidding the teaching of Darwin's theory of evolution.

The ACLU (yes we were even causing trouble all the way back then) put out an offer in a Chattanooga newspaper to defend a teacher who was willing to challenge the state law prohibiting the teaching of "any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals."

The legendary Scopes "Monkey Trial" would pit two giants of American legal history, Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan, against one another in this summertime showdown over academic freedom. When the verdict against Scopes was read, he memorably stated his intention "to oppose this law in any way that I can. Any other action would be in violation of my ideal of academic freedom — that is, to teach the truth as guaranteed in our constitution, of personal and religious freedom." Scopes' guilty verdict would later be overturned by the Tennessee Supreme Court, but this case would go on to be remembered as one of the most famous trials of the 20th century. It would serve as the basis for Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee's play Inherit the Wind in 1955, which was later turned into a famous film of the same name starring Spencer Tracy and Fredric March in 1960. If you haven't seen it, I recommend adding it to your Netflix list.

Hard as it might be to believe, controversy over the teaching of evolution still exists in many parts of our country to this day. It was just in 2005, that Judge John E. Jones III ruled in a landmark case brought by the ACLU and our allies that so-called "intelligent design" is little more than creationism under a different name and represents a particular religious belief, in violation of the Establishment Clause of the Constitution, that has no place being taught in a science classroom setting.

Last month, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal signed into law legislation that will make it easier for religious beliefs to work their way into science classrooms. Clearly the legacy of the Monkey Trial from eight decades ago is still very much with us in the present.

Permalink |	Religion & Belief

1. waylon cates Says:
   Jul 25th, 2008 at 7:37am

   i;m gonna go around to area schools and pass out reigous tracts to every student i see and their won't be a thing one you caN DO ABOUT IT.SO PUT THAT IN YOUR PIPE AND SMOKE IT.

2. waylon cates Says:
   Jul 25th, 2008 at 7:42am

   THERES NO SUCH THIG AS AS SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE .

3. Dominique Says:
   Jul 31st, 2008 at 12:34pm

   Darwin's Theory of Evolution was exactly that- a theory! Even Darwin would be disgraced by your lack of intellegence since you are supposed to be higher on the food chain than others- Monkey! I often wonder where to even start in an attempt to debate with someone so ignorant.

4. Anonymous Says:
   Aug 15th, 2008 at 3:21pm

   Waylon and Dominique... you all seem to have some serious anger issues. Waylon, the ACLU (who you seem to be so upset with) would stand up for your right to go out and preach your idiotic religion if that right was in jeopardy; so, think a little before your start your stupid rants about putting stuff in a pipe and smoking it. Dominique, [*sigh*] people saying idiotic things like what you have said about the Theory of Evolution is EXACTLY why the ACLU attempts to keep crap out of the classroom and perhaps even give students a rudimentary understanding of science and its technical terms. I know where to start, and for you, I will post a definition from a dictionary:

   1. Theory, hypothesis are used in non-technical contexts to mean an untested idea or opinion. A theory in technical use is a more or less verified or established explanation accounting for known facts or phenomena: the theory of relativity. A hypothesis is a conjecture put forth as a possible explanation of phenomena or relations, which serves as a basis of argument or experimentation to reach the truth: This idea is only a hypothesis.

   Do we question the Theory of Relativity? (Unless it really is "intelligent falling".) Then why must you nut cases go on and on about the -Theory- in the Theory of Evolution? Furthermore, theory in that context means that it has been tested and has not been able to have been disproven. Perhaps if you had paid a little bit more attention in your science classes and a little less attention to televangelists and conservatives you would have a better grasp of this concept.

5. Anonymous Says:
   Nov 20th, 2009 at 11:18pm

   Evolution is only a theory.Creation has much more proof. If we had evolved from monkeys, how could there still be monkeys today? It hasn't been proven either.it has much more marks against it than for it. Darwin even rejected his own theory before he died.

   Reminds me of a joke I heard: Whoever said man came from monkeys insulted the monkeys.....

   And you people need to have a 12 year old kid point this out? Honestly people.I beg of you, please do your homework before you defend a theory that makes no sense. Spewing out definitions don't help you any either.

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