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Location:
Dayton, Tennessee
Synopsis:
Matt and Tiffany steer their massive 31' RV to the south, where they stop at
the Rhea County Courthouse in Dayton, Tennessee, site of the Scope's “Monkey” Trial.
As they look at the museum documenting
this famous 1925 event and then at the actual courthouse
where the courtroom drama took place, the students
begin to build a picture of one of the most famous turning points in the
controversy between religion and science.
It was here that two historical
figures battled for legal protection of their beliefs—Presidential
candidate William Jennings Bryant on the side of religion, and Clarence Darrow,
one of the most famous trial attorneys of the time, on the side of evolution.
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SCOPES
TRIAL — A court trial that was a key development
in the public debate over whether to teach evolution
in public schools. In 1925 John Scopes, a high
school teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, was charged
with breaking the state’s Butler Act, which
forbade any theory besides creationism being taught.
The A.C.L.U. was anxious to challenge this law
and defended Scopes with attorney Clarence Darrow.
The prosecution was handled by orator William Jennings
Bryan. It was a major media event, being broadcast
nationally on radio. Bryan was ill-equipped to
answer Darrow’s clever questions, with the
result of creationism being seen as unscientific
and backward. Today the opposite condition exists
than in Scopes’ day: only evolution can be
taught in public schools.
GALILEO GALILEI — Italian astronomer and
physicist (1564-1642) whose observations led
him to believe astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus’ (1473-1543)
position that the sun, not the earth, was the
center of the solar system. A devout Catholic,
this got him into trouble with the church, which
had taught the Ptolemaic earth-centered system
as correct and even Biblical. His story is used
to illustrate how Christians can be wrong, even
backward when it comes to science. It is interesting
to note that the church’s position was
what MOST scientists believed at that time, and
they wrongly built a Biblical case in support.
Finding Biblical support for today’s popular
scientific theory of evolution also recalls Galileo’s
story.
CREATIONISM — The promotion of the belief
that God created life in a special supernatural
act. This generally means a belief in the Biblical
account.
EVOLUTIONISM — The promotion of the theory
of evolution, more recently to the exclusion
of other theories or challenges.
View the Glossary
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