Scopes Trial Was A Scam

You learn something new every day.

Today, my lesson was that the so-called “Monkey Trial”—or “The Trial Of The Century” was merely a “show trial”.

It was a set-up; a planned spectacle to bring attention to a town in Tennessee whose leaders thought the publicity would do it good. Was I asleep when they covered THAT part in school?

The proceeding, which ended on this date 85 years ago—on July 21, 1925—was a real trial in the sense that its outcome was legally binding. It’s just that the whole thing was planned from start to finish.

The epic battle of “Evolution” versus “Creation” was ripe for confrontation. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) published a newspaper ad offering to assist any Tennessee schoolteacher who challenged a new law that outlawed the teaching of evolution.

The townspeople of Dayton decided to bring attention to their sleepy little community. The school superintendent was also in on it. All that was needed now was a defendant.

Enter 24-year-old John T. Scopes, a local high school science teacher and football coach, who agreed mostly because he didn’t plan on living in Dayton much longer anyway.

Immortalized in the book “Inherit The Wind”, the trial was a spectacle—with two of America’s most prominent figures as antagonists. Leading the prosecution was perennial losing presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan. Advocating for Scopes was the famous defense attorney Clarence Darrow.

Here’s a short video on the proceeding:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV840sEiqYY&feature=related

The trial was broadcast live by a Chicago radio station-a first-adding to the circus atmosphere.

The most riveting aspect was a clever move by Darrow to call the prosecutor to the stand as a witness. No judge would ever have allowed this, but William Jennings Bryan would never back down to a challenge—and ascended to the stand.

While it seemed that Darrow made him appear a fool by challenging his beliefs in the very literal interpretation of the Bible, the judge in the end sided with the prosecution, convicting Scopes and fining him $100. The decision was later reversed on a technicality.

It’s hard to believe that we are still having this debate nearly a century later. Scientists have been vilified ever since the time when people believed the world was flat. Perhaps Charles Darwin’s “The Origin of Species” was revolutionary back then, but TODAY?

Science and religion should reinforce each other—but ignorance sometimes gets the upper hand. It did back then—and still does today.

If you’d like my blog in your box, just let me know: tim.moore@citcomm.com