Charles Colson is right. We should never allow an entertaining fiction like Inherit the Wind to so overshadow real life that we forget what its historical counterpart, the Scopes Monkey Trial, was really all about. So, as a service to O'Toole File readers, here's a quick reminder:
PUBLIC ACTSOF THE
STATE OF TENNESSEE
PASSED BY THE
SIXTY - FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
1925
________
CHAPTER NO. 27
House Bill No. 185
(By Mr. Butler)
AN ACT prohibiting the teaching of the Evolution Theory in all the Universities, Normals and all other public schools of Tennessee, which are supported in whole or in part by the public school funds of the State, and to provide penalties for the violations thereof.
Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That it shall be unlawful for any teacher in any of the Universities, Normals and all other public schools of the State which are supported in whole or in part by the public school funds of the State, to teach 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.
Section 2. Be it further enacted, That any teacher found guilty of the violation of this Act, Shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction, shall be fined not less than One Hundred $ (100.00) Dollars nor more than Five Hundred ($ 500.00) Dollars for each offense.
Section 3. Be it further enacted, That this Act take effect from and after its passage, the public welfare requiring it.
Passed March 13, 1925
W. F. Barry,
Speaker of the House of Representatives
L. D. Hill,
Speaker of the Senate
Approved March 21, 1925.
Austin Peay,
Governor.
That, friends, is what the real Scopes trial was all about. And we should be grateful to Mr. Colson for insisting that we remember.
[Colson link via CCC.]
Comments
Well–That’s *one* of the things it was about. It was also about local communities seeking to protect themselves and their children from outside incursions, and about an old man [Bryan] who actually thought it had to do with defending democracy from the corrosive forces of nihilism, social darwinism, and rule by “experts.” Look, I agree with you [and with every scientist I know] that evolution is a foundational concept without which the teaching of life science is nonsensical–and as a teacher myself, I cherish control over my classroom. But there’s a reason why polls persistently show the majority of Americans siding with the creationists: an intuitive sense that the ultimate appeal of evolutionists is, not to “free expression” [as *Inherit the Wind* would have it], but to the authority of the credentialed. There was, and remains, something profoundly antidemocratic about the “liberal” position on the Scopes trial, as shown by the prominence of that well-known ridiculer of democracy H. L. Mencken in setting it. That’s why it’s the “intelligent design” crowd that has managed to seize the “free expression” ground by demanding that teachers “teach the controversy.” Liberals can complain all they want to that the right is hijacking “their” ideas, but the point about ideas is that they are common property, and belong to our adversaries as much as they belong to us. The teaching of evolution is in trouble in this country precisely because of our populist heritage; evolution’s defenders have to recognize [as they plainly didn’t in Kansas recently] that they have to make a *political,* not just a scientific, case for it.
BTW–Why don’t the lines wrap in your comment box?
[NOTE: Line breaks removed after text wrap problem solved. -- JPO'T]
Posted by: David | May 21, 2005 09:05 AM