The famous “Scopes Monkey Trial” concluded 92 years ago today. The ACLU-instigated spectacle marked a defining moment in Western culture; unfortunately, not in a good way. By planting the idea that the Genesis version of creation can’t be trusted, it touched off the slow erosion of American Christianity, a process that’s rapidly picking up speed a century later.
From the beginning, “Scopes” didn’t develop spontaneously from a legitimate legal grievance. It was actually an early form of leftist propaganda, orchestrated by budding 20th century progressives. Answers In Genesis features a good summary of the proceedings ~
The Scopes trial took place during a hot July in 1925 in the little town of Dayton, nestled in the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee. In a time when modern court trials can drag on for months or even years, it is amazing to consider that the Scopes trial lasted only 12 days (July 10–21)—including the selection of the jury!
The leadership of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in New York City initiated the Scopes trial. The ACLU became alarmed over “antievolution” bills that were being introduced in the legislatures of 20 states in the early 1920s. These bills were all very similar and forbade public schools to teach the evolution of man but generally ignored the evolution of anything else.
The ACLU hoped that a test case might overthrow these bills or at least make them unenforceable. They chose to pursue their case in Tennessee, where the state legislature had unanimously passed the Butler Act. This act declared that it shall be “unlawful for any teacher in any of the Universities, Normals, and all other public schools of the state which are supported in whole or in part by the public school funds of the State, to teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals.”
There hadn’t actually been anyone accused of, or prosecuted under, the Butler Act, so the ACLU had to “discover” one. Even though their token victim never mentioned the word “evolution” in the classroom – and wasn’t even a biology teacher ~
(John Scopes) taught math and coached the football team for one year at the local Rhea County high school (Dayton TN). He had no background in science and had little interest or understanding of evolution. Indeed, the only qualification Scopes had as a science teacher was that he filled in for an ill biology teacher the last two weeks of the school year.
Nonetheless, a reluctant Scopes was talked into participating in the ACLU’s test case. And the circus was off and running.
Clarence Darrow, an immensely successful criminal lawyer who specialized in defending unpopular people and radical causes, was an agnostic (more probably an atheist) who detested the traditional views of Christians and believed that concepts of good and evil were essentially meaningless ~
Much of Darrow’s effort at the trial amounted to a caustic diatribe against the Bible and Christianity. His anti-Christian hostility was so intense that there was fear on the part of liberal theologians and organizations that supported his evolutionary views that he might turn popular opinion against them. Darrow even turned his anger and hostility against Judge John T. Raulston by repeatedly interrupting and insulting him, for which he was cited for contempt of court.
In effect, Darrow was trying to put Scripture itself on trial. He didn’t win in that regard. But in the end he managed to twist God’s word sufficiently to sow poisonous seeds of doubt about the true creation account into the hearts of believers (Sounds rather like another snake, who made an appearance in Genesis…); undermining biblical authority, and paving the way for secular philosophy to pervade the culture and education system. Deceit and subterfuge are perennially progressives’ means of advancing their soulless agenda.
Dayton, TN is still proud of their hostile “hero,”
This statue was just unveiled last Friday
Ken Ham and Dr. David Menton explain the corrosive effect that the Scopes verdict – and the subsequent effect that allowing evolution to be taught as settled science in public schools – had on the Church ~
Sadly, most Christians today have, like Bryan, accepted the world’s teaching and rejected the plain words of the Bible regarding history. Thus, they have helped the world teach generations of children that the Bible cannot be trusted in Genesis. After years of such indoctrination, a generation has now arisen that is also (logically) rejecting the morality based on the Bible. Today, with, for example, the removal of the Ten Commandments from public places, we are seeing the increasing elimination of the Christian foundational structure in the nation.
This is a major reason why the influence of Christianity has been so weakened in our Western world—the Church is giving the message that we need to trust in man’s theories—not the Word of God.
We need to get back to the Truth of Creation – before Clarence Darrow and the ACLU attacked it 92 years ago. Darwin’s theory has been debunked; learn how HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.
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Related:
Statue of ‘Scopes monkey trial’ evolution backer unveiled in East Tennessee town (July 14, 2017)
Darrow’s Statue: Another Win for Evolution?
Distorted Scopes Narrative Perpetuated ~ Inherit the Spin
The Darwin Effect ~ “Every American and human being that walks the earth needs to know that Evolution is not science but is by its very nature a dangerous idea that has brought death to millions.”
Book Review: How Darwinism Corrodes Morality ~
Its 294 pages leave you breathless with a withering display of well-documented accounts of people who took Darwin’s “dangerous idea” and ran with it. It leaves you with an overwhelming sense that this evil ideology must be stopped.
