Dan+M+Book+Review

= SUMMER FOR THE GODS: The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate over Science and Religion =

Edward J. Larson splits his book up into three separate parts: “BEFORE…DURING…AND AFTER”. While all are intriguing, I found the “Before…” section the most interesting. The events leading to the Scopes Trial showdown clearly display why Scopes was on trial and why the trial was turned into a debate that was completely irrelevant.

The book begins with a little background knowledge about the “continuing debate” over Creationism and Darwinism. It tells of the Piltdown Skull and of Darwin’s conflict with a God that encourages “cat[s] to play with mice” after he began writing __On the Origin of Species.__ Larson then moves on to eras more relevant to the case. He talks of the 1920s and the rise in Fundamentalists (people who believe in a strict interpretation of the Bible and therefore do not agree with the theory of evolution). These Fundamentalists believe in Genesis, and that God created everything (including humans). Interestingly enough, Larson goes on to say that “by the turn of the century, secular historians and essayists rather than theologians and scientists were largely responsible for keeping alive the public perception of hostility between Christians and evolutionists”. It is the so called conflict between these two groups, the fundamentalists and evolutionists, which overshadows the truth behind the Scopes trial.

There was a large population of fundamentalists in the south. And it would be these people that composed the taxpayers. And as a result they felt as though they should all have a say as to what was taught in the public school system. After all, they were paying for it. Even Bryan’s wife said, “[Bryan’s] soul arose in righteous indignation when he found from many letters he received from parents all over the country that the state schools were being used to undermine the religious faith of their children”. It was this mentality that led Kentucky to attempt to pass legislation to ban the teaching of evolution in public schools. While the legislation did not pass, a few other states caught the same fever. Soon, Tennessee also had legislation being voted on that would make it illegal for teachers in public schools to teach the theory of evolution. As accusations of teachers being atheists flew, evolution got the boot. The ACLU, however, saw it differently. They saw this new legislation that made it illegal to teach __any__ theory that denied divine creation or the existence of God “as a threat to freedom and individual liberty in the broader American society.” It was this threat that made the ACLU send out a press release saying that they would defend any teacher who wished to challenge this new legislation. Enter John T. Scopes.

A few of the residents of Dayton, Tennessee decided to ask Scopes if he would go to court for teaching the theory of evolution (the anti-evolution laws were not very strictly kept). When he responded yes, the town went into action. There would be a trial in Dayton that was a prosecution of John Scopes because he broke the law. Arthur Hays, a lawyer for the ACLU, saw this as an opportunity. He was looking to make a name for the reestablished ACLU and decided that representing Scopes was the way to do it. Meanwhile, Dayton, a destitute and unknown dot on the map, was preparing. The “Progressive Dayton Club, [the leading civic association], formed a Scopes Trial Entertainment Committee” to capitalize on the amount of spectators that would soon be in attendance for the judicial process. Interestingly enough, the prosecution requested that Scopes be charged. They saw what the people of Dayton saw, an opportunity.

The Defense, led by the infamous Darrow, came to Dayton along with hoards of reporters and spectators from miles around. They all wanted to witness “The Trial of the Century”. The trial was even broadcast nationally over the radio. The opening statements set the tone for both sides. The prosecution stated in two simple sentences, Scopes taught that “mankind is descended from a lower order of animals…therefore, he has taught a theory which denies the story of divine creation of man as taught in the Bible”. The defense bragged that if their experts were allowed to speak, they would be able to hold the trial out for weeks. They had the verbose opening statement, carefully crafted to set up their case. Darrow was set on attacking religion; he even refused to partake in the courts opening prayers. The trial lasted about a week and had plenty of events that would be for the record books. Among these would be: the Defense’s closing, made by Malone which would be called by J.W. Butler “the finest speech of the century”, Darrow’s assault on Bryan while seated on the stand as an expert on the Bible, among others. Examples such as these would lead the //New York Times// to label the trial as “the greatest debate on science and religion in recent years”. But was the “trial” supposed to turn into a debate over science and religion? Then what were the prosecutors charging against Scopes if the purpose was not his recent disobeying of the law?

The trial was, in short, blown to such immense proportions that it doesn’t even make sense. I find based on the evidence given by Larson that both parties are to blame. On one side, we have the ACLU. Hays was looking to make a statement on the ACLU’s behalf, and Darrow was determined to undermine Christianity, what he called a “slave religion”. In the other corner are the Fundamentalists. They can feel free to send their children to private school, or teach them things every Sunday morning if they like, but they do not have the right to dictate what //other// people’s children learn. The book doesn’t even deal with the actual trial (that’s what the book is supposed to be about) for more than a couple of chapters. Instead, the underlying issues that enabled this change from trial to debate to occur are the source for the bulk of the information within Larson’s book. Many of the Jurors had to be taught what the theory of evolution was, because they themselves did not know. Scopes did not even testify. At one point, Scopes showed up late. Hays asked him where the hell he has been, “but no one else appeared to notice the defendant’s absence”. It’s HIS trial! The Scopes trial ended up being nothing but a glorified debate over a subject that is clearly resolved by the separation of church and state clause in the Constitution.