Devin's+Week+6

In the beginning of our class, the very first day, we were asked if science and religion could peacefully coexist. I feel that they can. For example, a car crash victim could be receiving the latest innovation in dealing with spinal cord injuries, but at the same time their family can be sitting with a chaplain as their loved one is being taken care of. Science and religion should be able to coexist because through a balance of both a society can flourish. But, that idea would never have passed as satisfactory during the scopes trial. The scopes trial was a mockery of the American justice system and was nothing more than a veritable title fight between religious traditionalists and scientific modernists. The trial attempted to decide once and for all that one or the other (science and religion) would be the prevailing American belief at the time. Bryan’s motives for leading his “crusade” against Darwin are unclear. It seems that he may have done this all just to stay in the public eye. The whole Scopes Monkey trial had little to do with the defendant at all. “The guilt or innocence of John Scopes, and even the constitutionality of Tennessee’s anti-evolution statute, mattered little. The meaning of the trial emerged through its interpretation as a conflict of social and intellectual values.” It’s a shame that the two ideals, science and religion, had to be put on trial to see which one was the better fit when years later both are respected and acceptable beliefs in America today.Devin's Week 6