Evolution On Trial.

• Author: BEAUDOIN, JACK
• Position: Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925 on teaching of evolution

Should schools teach science that conflicts with the Bible? The question has a history.

The vote this summer by the Kansas Board of Education to remove the theory of evolution from the state's public-school science curriculum gave many scientists a sense that history was repeating itself. They thought the same battle had been fought--and won--after the so-called Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925, when a Tennessee high school teacher was charged with violating a state law forbidding the teaching of evolution.

John Scopes was a 24-year-old science and math teacher and football coach, who taught his Dayton, Tennessee, students that humans and other creatures had evolved into their present forms from a common ancestor over millions--perhaps billions--of years. Scopes was not out of line with his profession. By 1925, most science teachers had accepted the evolution theories of British naturalist Charles Darwin. But that theory differed from the Bible's story of the creation of human life, and fundamentalist Christians who believed the Bible should be taken literally considered it a threat to Christian values.

Fundamentalists crusading against the teaching of evolution won their first big victory in Tennessee in 1925, when state legislators passed the country's first anti-evolution law. It provided

that it shall be unlawful for any teacher in ... public schools 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.

The law set a fine of between $100 and $500 for each offense. But its symbolic importance went far beyond those amounts, and it attracted national attention from the start. As soon as the law was signed by Tennessee's Governor, the American Civil Liberties Union offered legal aid to any teacher in the state who would challenge it.

Encouraged by fellow citizens of Dayton who wanted publicity for their town, Scopes agreed to be the first teacher to test the anti-evolution statute. As the Scopes trial shaped up to be a historic test case, both sides drew nationally prominent attorneys. Heading the prosecution was William Jennings Bryan, three-time Democratic nominee for President, a leader of the antievolution crusade, and one of the most brilliant orators of his time. Defending Scopes was the era's most famous trial lawyer, Clarence Darrow, who was as well known for his antireligious views as for his legal skill.

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