The Scopes Trial Highlights the Battle Over Evolution

The Scopes Trial Highlights the Battle Over Evolution

Overview

The Scopes "Monkey Trial" is the best-known example of the conflict over the teaching of evolution in the United States. Even though most scientists in the 1920s were sure that biology could not be taught without reference to evolution, Christian fundamentalists saw evolutionary theory as a rejection of religious belief. In 1925 Tennessee passed the Butler Act, which made the teaching of evolutionary theory illegal within the state. High school teacher John Thomas Scopes (1900-1970) was tried and convicted in Dayton, Tennessee, for teaching "the theory of the simian descent of man." The Butler Act was not repealed until 1967.

Background

When Charles Darwin's (1809-1882) On the Origin of Species was published in 1859, both theologians and scientists were divided about Darwin's theory of evolution, especially his arguments about human origins. Even some supporters of evolutionary theory believed that the intellectual and spiritual traits of human beings constituted an unbridgeable chasm separating human beings from animals. Some Protestant theologians argued that since God operates through intermediate causes, such as the law of gravity, God could also use evolution as a means of bringing living beings into existence. After studying the relationship between church doctrine and the theory of evolution, Roman Catholic theologians decided that biological evolution was compatible with the Christian faith and that the Bible should not be read as if it were a scientific treatise.

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