Scopes Trial Opened On-Going Debate Between Evangelicals and Post Modern Thinkers

Historical Study Must Lead to Cultural Self-Examination

Michael Streich

First published in Suite101 2011

Over ninety years ago the Scopes “Monkey” trial in Dayton, Tennessee lifted the debate between those that favored creationism and those supporting evolution to new heights. Defying a Tennessee law that forbade the teaching of evolution, John Thomas Scopes, a twenty-four year old biology teacher at Dayton’s Central High School, taught evolution, hoping to initiate a judicial test case of the Tennessee statute. The debate has been an important issue for Evangelicals ever since, and is witnessing a resurgence within the contemporary political climate infused by the growing Tea Party movement.

 

How Fundamentalists View the Biblical Story of Creation

 

During the 1925 Scopes trial, chief prosecuting attorney William Jennings Bryan took the witness stand at the request of Clarence Darrow, an attorney with the New York Civil Liberties Union. Bryan affirmed under oath that the creation of the earth occurred in 4004 BC.

 

Bryan was a staunch evangelical, whose life had been spent in public service. As Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson, he eliminated the use of alcohol at any official governmental function.

 

The view that God created man at a definitive moment in cosmic history is part of the Genesis creation story. Other ancient civilizations had similar stories, such as the Egyptian creation myth. Even the native peoples of the Americas passed down creation myths that, in many ways, parallel the Genesis account.

 

Modernist Views Conflict with Literal Interpretations of Creationism

 

Charles Darwin’s Origin of the Species, published in November 1859, helped to open the door to a more scientific and rational view of the development of life and more specifically, the origins of mankind.

 

Christian theologians fought this perceived attack on biblical inerrancy. By 1921, they were identified as “Fundamentalists,” and creationism was a cornerstone belief that needed to be defended.

 

Over time, evangelical Christians began to modify their views. Professor John W. Klotz of Concordia Senior College, writing about changes in the historical patterns of life, states that, “…all of this change, insofar as the organic world is concerned, has taken place within limits fixed by the Creator when He fashioned the different ‘kinds’ in the beginning.” Even the Catholic Church, in February 2009, declared that evolution is compatible with Christianity (Telegraph, February 11, 2009). Many mainline contemporary Christians accept a view of gradual creationism.

 

Extreme and Avant Garde Alternatives to Creationism

 

In 1970, Erich Von Daniken’s book Chariots of the Gods? was first published. Von Daniken postulated that human life was tied to alien visitations to the planet. After recounting numerous Old Testament stories of man’s interaction with angels and God, he asks, “Does not this seriously pose the question whether the human race is not an act of deliberate ‘breeding’ by unknown beings from outer space?”

 

Evangelical Christians were swift to respond. Clifford Wilson’s Crash Go the Chariots (1973) refuted all of Von Daniken’s supporting examples. But even if the alien connection is too far-fetched for readers, many Christians take the middle ground that highlights a gradual evolution with God at the center of the origin.

 

The Contemporary View of Creationism in American Politics and Education

 

Creationism has become a litmus test for politicians whose constituencies tend to be conservative. In the 2010 midterm election, Senate candidates like Sharron Angle of Nevada and Christine O’Donnell of Delaware publically supported the teaching of creationism in American schools.

 

In the case of O’Donnell, her positions were decisively rejected by voters. Both were supported by the Tea Party movement, many of whose members support the teaching of creationism in the public schools.

 

Fundamentalists claim that evolution is a baseless theory and cannot be proven. But neither can creationism. The Genesis story is a matter of faith. Ancient history is defined by myths passed down through oral tradition in order to explain the origins and on-going functions of everyday life.

 

The 1925 Scopes trial endures as a reminder of the still on-going controversy between the advocates of science and rational thought and the Fundamentalists that cling to beliefs that defy anthropology, zoology, paleontology, and history.

 

Sources:

 

Frederick Lewis Allen, Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920’s (Harper & Row, 1931)

Robert Clark, Darwin: Before and After (The Paternoster Press, 1966)

Erich Von Daniken, Chariots of the Gods? (Putnam, 1970)

John W. Klotz, Genes, Genesis, and Evolution (Concordia Publishing House, 1955)