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Science Friday > Archives > 2000 > July > July 21, 2000: 

Hour Two: Scopes Trial 75th Anniversary

Seventy-five years ago this week, two of the country's most acclaimed orators faced off in a courtroom in Dayton, Tennessee. The case's unofficial name: the 'monkey trial.' The lead players: Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan. The issue: the teaching of evolution and creation in the classroom -- an issue still under debate today. On trial were the actions of Tennessee high school football coach and teacher John Scopes, who had agreed to deliberately run afoul of a state law forbidding teaching "any theory that denies the story of divine creation of man as taught in the Bible."

Darrow addresses the jury and courtroom in Dayton, Tennessee. Photo courtesy Bryan College Archives.

The facts of the case were straightforward. The trial served largely as a platform for Darrow and Bryan to give speeches, which were avidly followed by over 200 journalists. Scopes was convicted of breaking the anti-evolution-teaching law, and was fined $100. The court's decision was later overturned by the state supreme court on a technicality. The Tennessee law forbidding the teaching of evolution was later repealed in 1967. In 1968, the U.S. Supreme Court found in Epperson v. Arkansas that a similar state law was unconstitutional.

Yet similar issues still arise in education today. Last year, the Kansas School Board caused a flap by removing references to evolution from the standard state science curriculum that students are expected to master, leaving the decision what to teach when it comes to the origin of species up to individual schools and teachers.

On this hour of Science Friday, we'll look back at the history of the Scopes trial, and at its effects on the nation. We'll also talk about how evolution should be dealt with in schools today. Call in with your thoughts - our number is 1-800-989-8255.

Listen to this program in RealAudio!

Guests:
Edward J. Larson
Author, "Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion" (Harvard Univ Pr, 1998)
Professor, History and Law
University of Georgia
Athens, Georgia

Kenneth R. Miller
Author, "Finding Darwin's God: A Scientist's Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution" (Cliff Street Books, 1999).
Professor, Biology
Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island

Michael J. Behe
Author, "Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution" (Touchstone Books, 1998)
Professor, Biochemistry
Lehigh University
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Books/Articles Discussed:

"Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution" by Michael J. Behe. Touchstone Books, 1998. "Finding Darwin's God: A Scientist's Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution" by Kenneth R. Miller. Cliff Street Books, 1999. "Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion" by Edward J. Larson. Harvard Univ Pr, 1998. (find more SciFri books here)

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Produced By: Annette Heist
Web Producer: Charles Bergquist