Scopes Trial: Teaching Evolution In The 1920's

Scopes Trial

In the 1920’s everyone thought that teaching evolution was forbidden and that it was against the church. Evolution was a tricking topic to discuss especially in the 1920’s because a lot of people thought that when someone said evolution it was automatically connected to the Bible. Evolution can be very controversial because many people, especially in the 1920’s had very different views on evolution and what is was. In the 1920’s many people thought evolution was something you would not teach. Most people thought it was related to the Bible and did not want it taught to their children. A lot of people thought evolution was only related to the Bible and did not think how evolution is related to how we evolved from a monkey into

a man today. Many people did not want this taught to their children so the big question was who will regulate how evolution is taught state or federal government. Many people were scared that if the federal government regulated how evolution would be taught then that their children would learn evolution and that it was related to the Bible and their religion. Many people feared this and wanted the states to be able to regulate how evolution was taught and so that they could be able to not have evolution taught in the state they lived in and that their child went to school in. State governments should be allowed for regulating how evolution is taught and that it is not about or related to someone's religion and that is only related to scientific information. The thought’s and feeling’s about evolution changes overtime.
“In July of 1925, there was a court case called the Scopes Trial, the scopes trial occurred as a result of the Tennessee legislature's passage of the Butler Act in March of 1925 (Burns).” This court case dealt with a biology teacher who was teaching evolution in his classroom.

The teacher John Scopes was only teaching evolution in a relation to science evolution. The Scopes trial was the first occurrence of a teacher teaching evolution in their classroom. “The John Thomas Scopes trial checked the influence of Fundamentalism in Public Education ( John.)” The trial started because John Scopes broke the Butler law. “In 1925, the Tennessee legislature passed the Butler law which forbade the teaching of Darwin's theory of evolution in any public school or university(The Monkey

Trial.)”.
The topic of evolution can be a very rough topic to discuss.

Many people feared the topic or term of evolution because they thought if someone is talking about evolution in a scientific way than it was against their religion. Many people have different views or opinions on evolution, in the 1920’s many people immediately associated the term evolution and automatically related it in biblical terms of evolution. Most people when someone would talk about evolution and relate it to science they would get offended because they believed differently because of their religion. “By the 1930’s most of the urban churches of America had been able to reconcile Darwin's theory with the Bible,but rural preachers preferred a stricter interpretation (The Monkey Trial).” The people who got offended about people talking about evolution in another way than the bible also thought it was against their religion to teach or talk about evolution in a fear that it could affect how their children thought about their religion.”In the years that followed his 1859 declaration America's churches hotly debated whether to accept the findings of modern science continues following the teaching of ancient scripture (The Monkey Trial)”. Many parents feared that if their child or children were taught evolution that then that would influence their religion. Multiple parents were very upset that their children were taught Darwin's theory of evolution. “By 1925, Bryan and his followers had succeeded in getting

legislation introduced in fifteen states to ban the teaching of evolution (User.)”
In the 1920’s there were some laws against teaching evolution, today we do not have any laws against teaching evolution, but if a teacher wanted to teach evolution in a biblical way that a teacher would not be allowed for the separation between church and state. If we had to have any laws against evolution the state should regulate teaching evolution because the state is able to regulate teaching evolution better in their state and would be able to understand what their state needs more. In the 1920”s in Tennessee, where the Scopes Trial happened there was a new law called the Butler Act. “The new Tennessee law, known as the Butler Act, stated that these ideas could not be taught in public schools (Blake 10-25.)” Like stated before evolution was a hard subject to discuss because you never knew who be offended or who would think that you are an awful person and against their religion because you just brought up evolution in scientific terms. Teaching evolution in the 1920’s was a very rough subject to teach because if you tried to teach evolution a student may try to ask like how we got here and tried to relate it to the bible then another student may get offended because it may offend their religion or how they view evolution.”The Scopes Trial represented a significant setback for anti evolution forces (User)”. Many teachers in the 1920’s wanted to be able to teach evolution in relation to scientific terms but they were not able to. Teachers wanted to be able to teach students something they needed to know so that they could understand scientifically how they got here. “Since the publication of the Origin of Species in 1859 and the Descent of Man in 1871, Charles Darwin’s concepts of an ancient earth and a gradual development of new species has been seen as particularly threatening by some groups of Christians, particularly in the United States (Burns).”
Many teachers in the Tennessee in the 1920’s wanted to teach evolution, but were not able to because of the Butler Act and the Scopes Trial. So Many teachers wanted to teach students what they should and want to know. Many teachers badly wanted to teach evolution so their students could be better. In Tennessee a bill sponsored by John Washington Butler was enacted in February 1925.”Declaring it unlawful for a teacher in any school supported by state funds (John).” Many teachers wanted to be able to teach their students evolution so they could know how a monkey over time transformed into a man. Teachers all over the nation wanted to be able to teach evolution, but had a fear of getting arrested. Fearing that if the Tennessee law went unchallenged, then soon other states would pass similar bills. “The American Civil Liberties Union immediately announced it would defend any teacher charged with violating the Butler Act (John).” Many teachers who wanted to teach evolution and could not have to change how they taught everything because since they couldn't teach evolution, they were scared if they taught a certain thing they feared they could be put to jail because the broke a law or offend someone's religion. “The prosecution opened its case by asking the court to take judicial notice of the book of Genesis as it appears in the King James version (User). “
Evolution is something that everyone should learn at least once in their life. Evolution is the process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth. Evolution should not be a hard topic to discuss because it is simply just the scientific term of how a living organism transformed over time into a human, but many others see it differently because of their religion point of view. In the 1920’s it was very hard to discuss evolution because many people did not want to believe that evolution was a real thing. Many people were scared that if someone spoke about evolution or even taught it, then it was awful and they got offended because of what they believed. Evolution was something that was never taught in the 1920’s by John Thomas Scopes taught evolution in his biology classroom. Scopes was a biology teacher who thought that children should know what evolution is and how it works and that is exactly what John Scopes did he got a book on evolution and taught it to his biology class but only in relation to science. John Scopes was arrested for teaching evolution but he did not regret teaching it as it was something he students' should know and learn. John scopes were a teacher who decided he wanted to teach something that was against the law and he did so, but he did it for the better of his students education, he taught evolution because it was needed. Evolution is something that should be taught in the 1920’s people did not understand this. A lot has changed from 1920’s to today, Evolution has been taught all over the nation because it is something that is needed to know and if there was a situation where a teacher taught evolution in a biblical way to a class then the state should regulate this because a state knows more of what it states need. Evolution is a topic that over time is something that some people can get offended by then almost 100 years later people understand the topic and now teach it all over the nation. The thought and feeling of evolution changes of time just as evolution does. Evolution was a very hard a controversial topic to discuss but times have changed and we no longer have any issues about evolution, but one thing about evolution is that every child should know what evolution is. The scope trial opened everyone's eyes in 1920’s and changed history forever. The scopes trial changed history in teaching.