The Scopes trial and intelligent design debate: enduring conflicts

¶ … Trial

In the start of the current century we find a new way of thinking called 'intelligent design' the summer of 2005 saw President of United States endorsing this new idea which others call a euphemism for creationism. Public opinion also seemed to be heavily divided on the issue showing that a majority of Americans today reject Darwin's theory of evolution. All this debate in the current century reminds us of the famous Scopes Trial almost 80 years ago.

Even though the famous trial settled a burning issue and many considered it a triumph of science but the echoes of debate in fact never ceased in the years the ensued after the trial till date. Many events tried to capture the trial and its essence in different events like a 1960 movie 'Inherit the Wind'. "As an icon of the triumph of science over religion, the Scopes trial would enter into the American imagination primarily through the trenchant, if selective, cynicism of that proto-curmudgeon, H.L. Mencken, who covered the trial for the Baltimore Sun, and later through the gross distortions of historical reality in Inherit the Wind, the 1955 play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee, which became a hit film in 1960" (Gaffney Jr., 1998).

The decade of 1920s can be considered a decade when a clash of cultural ideas took place and revivalism took roots in society. Intellectual experimentation prospered as young and the old and traditionalist and modernists started confronting each other on many issues. 18th Amendment was passed and people started looking at prohibition as a curb on their freedom. The debates on topics ranging from art to Freudian theories finally became a battle of tradition and modernism in the famous Scopes Trial which debated on the evolution theory in a Dayton, Tennessee courtroom in the summer of 1925.

When Darwin proposed his theory of evolution, it met fierce opposition and criticism but with time the theory became acceptable in academic circles. Still, many opposed the teaching of the theory in high schools of the country. Places like Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Mississippi even passed laws forbidding the topic of theory of evolution in the curriculum. John T. Scopes at Central High School in Dayton became the center of all debate when as a part of a movement to challenge such laws supported by American Civil Liberties Union got arrested on charges of going against the laws.

The lawyers that fought the case became famous names for fighting for the two diametrically opposite views. Clarence Darrow was one lawyer who was famous for his anti-evolution views and thrice-failed Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan was another one.

Since this trial debated a hot issue, it attracted a lot of attention of the people from all walks of life. The media present through radios talked extensively about the trial while print media also gave the event a lot of coverage. In fact media people and many others thronged Dayton to witness the famous trial first hand.

The trial was on for the education system that is whether it is to be ruled by the faith or reason. Darrel held the belief that education system should not be controlled by the bigots and so he grilled Bryan on the issue who in turn gave confusing answers contradicting his own views about the interpretation of Bible. On one hand Bryan failed to impress with his views while n the other hand critics like H.L. Mencken made a mockery of the trial. This whole brouhaha created a picture of a tussle between forward approach of science and backward approach of religion. After the Tennessee Supreme Court verdict federal jurisprudence braced the idea of teaching evolution in the science classrooms while sunning creationism. This was considered a big victory for science and reasoning resulting in rejection of anti-evolution laws in many states. Also, the trial later on in the 60s got interpreted in the movie as the victory of free speech against oppression.

The trial did create an impression for a while but disbelief in Darwinism did not disappear completely and time and again it started showing in public sphere indifferent modes. Let's not forget the Edward J. Larson's Pulitzer Prize-winning book 'Summer of Gods' in which he made his anti-Darwinism ideas loud and clear. Also Church kept on raising its voice in different ways against Darwin and his evolution theory. A large number of American people kept on subscribing to literal interpretation of Bible while being skeptical of the beliefs of Darwin. The movement that was curbed temporarily by the trial kept on gaining force with the passage of time and now the religious conservatism can be seen on the rise again. In the decade of 70s the emergence of Reagan in presidential office got the agenda of religious beliefs and conservatism back on the forefront.