Scopes Monkey Trial

Creationism is the teaching that God has created everything. It use to be illegal to teach evolution in public high schools. But in 1925, a man by the name John Scopes, a high school biology teacher, decided to teach the theory Evolution. It happened in the state of Tennessee. He violated the law that made it illegal of the teaching of Evolution.

The paw is supposed to answer all the wishes that someone made. Morris begins to tell the family about the monkey's paw's origins and how it came into his possession. After debating about whether the monkey paw has the ability to grant wishes, Morris throws the monkey's paw into the fire. Mr. White quickly retrieves it from the fire and tells his friend since he has made his three wishes and doesn't want it anymore; it would better serve him instead. Morris tries to reason with Mr. White and tells him to throw the monkey's paw back into the fire, but Mr. White doesn't listen.

However, a shift in religious attitudes after World War I made any theory that discredited Creationism or the literal interpretation of Bible Scripture and... ... middle of paper ... ...esented in biology textbooks, the beliefs of Fundamentalists as well as the findings of Darwin fight head on to create an eternal battle. While advancements are being made to end the war between the two, the Scopes Trial has created a long lasting scar that shapes the world of science and religion in American schools. Works Cited Harrison, S.L. "The Scopes `Monkey Trial' Revisited: Mencken And The Editorial Art Of Edmund Duffy." Journal Of American Culture (01911813) 17.4 (1994): 55.

In 1925 the first legal battle of evolution versus creationism in schools would take place, The Scopes Trial (Cornelius, n.d). It was a spectacle to behold being that the Defendant, a substitute teacher named John Scopes was recruited by a businessman named George Rappleyea. He was recruited because Rappleyea wanted someone to challenge the Butler Act, and he was willing to pay well to get a teacher to openly oppose it. The Butler Act (Butler Act, 1925) was a law passed in Tennessee in 1922, that prohibited public schools the denial of the Bible as man’s origins. The Butler Act was a clear violation of our Constitution.

A large factor in why the Scopes trial has received so much attention in an insignificant town is because of the stage that the trial was played out on. To begin with, The Butler Act made the Scopes trial all possible. To state it simply, The Butler Act prohibited public schools in Tennessee from teaching Evolution, or to falsify the Biblical story of Creationism. The Tennessee House of Representatives passed a bill making it unlawful for state-supported schools to teach any theory that denies the story of divine creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals (Numbers, 1998, p. 77). Put in place in 1925 with virtually no opposition in Tennessee’s Congress, breaking the law resulted in a misdemeanor offense with a fine of $100 to $500.

The thesis of this paper is, teachers must be required to teach evolution; which is already in place in the American school system, but teachers cannot be allowed to teach evolution as a fact, or evidence disproving the existence of a god. On top of all of that, they must as well allow the expression of opposing viewpoints. In the American school system there is a constant separation of Church and State. This separation is undisputedly good for keeping the civil rights of students in order. By not allowing the pressures of church in schools, people of power cannot abuse their power for religious preferences.

In its place, teachers were to only teach the story of Creation as found in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. This, and thirty-six similar laws, was seen as an infringement on civil liberties. Upon learning of this new law, the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), located in New York, placed advertisements in Tennessee newspapers in an attempt to find a teacher willing to stand up to the law. John Thomas Scopes, a math teacher and football coach for Rhea County High School in Dayton, Tennessee, was pressured into taking the challenge by a friend, George Rappleyea, who saw the advertisement. With the school’s biology teacher out for the last two weeks of class, Scopes took over and began teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution.

This act made it illegal to teach evolution within public schools. During this time a man named John T. Scopes, who at the time was only a substitute biology teacher, had assigned a reading from a book that taught evolution. This obviously was illegal and as such Scopes went to trial for this. In the end Scopes was found guilty for breaking the law but his conviction was overturned because of a technicality. The outcome of this trial was no surprise, most of America followed suit and removed any mention of evolution and Darwin from school textbooks.

Clarence Darrow, who was approaching 70, decided to join the battle in Dayton. Darrow was not the first choice of the ACLU, who was concerned that Darrow's zealous agnosticism might turn the trial into a broadside attack on religion.Scopes (skops), John Thomas 1900-1970American teacher who violated a state law by teaching the theory of evolution in a Tennessee high school. His trial (July 1925) was a highly publicized confrontation between defense attorney Clarence Darrow and the director of the prosecution William Jennings Bryan. Scopes was found guilty and fined a nominal sum, but his conviction was later reversed on technical grounds.

The radio was develo... ... middle of paper ... ... 1925 in the state of Tennessee and it prohibited teachers from teaching their students that anyone other than God created man. Then there became a problem of religion versus evolution. The Scopes Monkey trial affected Americans so much because it happened at a time when people were trying to find themselves and their beliefs. They had to decide whether they wanted to live in the past of accept the future. The trial revealed the conflicting views that were happening in the 1920s.