| The choice between creation and evolution as | | | | literal interpretation of the Bible... asking |
| an explanation for human existence is a | | | | questions about Jonah being swallowed by a |
| source of ongoing debate. The two camps of | | | | whale, Joshua making the sun stand still, |
| belief from both religion and science have | | | | Noah and the great flood, the temptation of |
| been at odds on this topic in American | | | | Adam in the Garden of Eden, and the creation |
| society for many years without much | | | | according to Genesis. |
| compromise. People of both extremes have | | | | |
| exerted their will on the education and | | | | The Scopes trial by no means ended the debate |
| judicial justice systems in order to | | | | over the teaching of evolution, but it did |
| influence American society. | | | | represent a significant setback for the |
| | | | anti-evolution forces. Of the fifteen states |
| Creationists want literal bible scriptures | | | | with anti- evolution legislation pending in |
| related to creation taught to children in | | | | 1925, only two states (Arkansas and |
| schools, while Evolutionists want them to | | | | Mississippi) enacted laws restricting |
| learn evolution. What should dominate | | | | teaching of Darwin's theory. |
| American culture - religious belief in | | | | |
| creation or scientific belief in evolution? | | | | Some Creationist believe that famous |
| The following historical event took place in | | | | scientists such as Einstein and Hawking |
| pursuit of the answer to this very same | | | | believe: "God does not play dice with the |
| question. | | | | Universe." But to truly understand what |
| | | | Einstein meant by that, you have to see into |
| In the 1920s during social structure chaos, | | | | his views toward god and religion because |
| Traditionalists worried that their beliefs | | | | scientists often use the word "god" to mean |
| were crumbling. Modernists stopped looking to | | | | the laws of nature. |
| society for approval for their actions; they | | | | |
| were only concerned that their actions lived | | | | The Creationist-Evolutionist controversy |
| up to their intellect. Intellectualism | | | | represents two ways of relating to the world. |
| flourished during that time, while Americans | | | | One being belief based on unreasoned |
| danced to Jazz, drank alcoholic beverages | | | | conviction and the other based on reasoned. |
| during prohibition, and debated abstract | | | | In other words belief in the literal |
| Freudian theories. As a result of this | | | | interpretation of the bible as opposed the |
| traditional social revivalism became strong, | | | | scientific rationalistic approach, stemming |
| especially in the South. | | | | from men like Thales, Aristotle, and |
| | | | reinterpreted through Galileo, Newton, and |
| Journalists were looking for a showdown | | | | others. |
| during that time and found one in a Dayton, | | | | |
| Tennessee courtroom in the summer of 1925. A | | | | The Enquiring Mind: |
| jury was deciding the fate of John Scopes, a | | | | |
| high school biology teacher charged with | | | | If you want to find a solution to this |
| illegally teaching the theory of evolution. | | | | dilemma you'll find clues on both sides of |
| Secondary to the actual anti-evolution | | | | the debate. For example scientists believe |
| statute the trial emerged as an | | | | that the universe began with a Big Bang. From |
| interpretation conflict between social and | | | | their prospective it's reasonable to believe |
| intellectual values. | | | | that something cannot be created from |
| | | | nothing? And therefore, if that's true then |
| William Jennings Bryan, a previous Democratic | | | | that something is what created the universe. |
| candidate for President led the prosecution | | | | Call it God, cosmic law or whatever else, |
| as a Fundamentalist to banish Darwin's theory | | | | it's beyond comprehension at this time in |
| of evolution from American classrooms. Other | | | | human development. |
| prominent lawyers were A. T. Stewart, Ben B. | | | | |
| McKenzie, and Bryan's son, federal prosecutor | | | | Being that humans are said to use only about |
| William Jennings Bryan Jr.. The defense team | | | | 10% of there brain power... and use language |
| was lead by the famed Clarence Darrow and was | | | | limiting the ability to understand and convey |
| joined by Arthur Garfield Hays, a prominent | | | | universal law, there is no wander that the |
| free speech advocate, and Dudley Field | | | | human species has a limited understanding of |
| Malone, an international divorce attorney. | | | | its true origin. To expect human kind to know |
| | | | and understand the source of its existence is |
| A carnival atmosphere pervaded in Dayton as | | | | like asking a toddler to explain quantum |
| the trial began July 10, 1925. The | | | | physics. |
| prosecution opened its case by asking the | | | | |
| court to take judicial notice of the Book of | | | | Where do these two beliefs find their basis |
| Genesis, as it appears in the King James | | | | of conflict? Creationist find their |
| Version, and received it. The defense called | | | | information in the Bible, while Evolutionist |
| its first witness, Dr. Maynard Metcalf, a | | | | find their's in the science of Biology. Is |
| zoologist from the Johns Hopkins University, | | | | there a conflict between Science and |
| over objections from the prosecution. | | | | Religion? If you take the Fundamentalist |
| | | | approach (everything in the Bible is to be |
| The prosecution mocked Metcalf's exposition | | | | taken literally), then there is conflict. If, |
| of the theory of evolution, complaining that | | | | on the other hand, the Bible is not taken |
| the evolutionists had man descending from Old | | | | literally, then there is room to grow in |
| World monkeys. Then the defense began a | | | | harmony with universal knowledge with no |
| series of questions designed to undermine the | | | | conflict. |