Fundamentalism

• Fundamentalism is the belief that everything in the bible is true, and you cannot question or interpret it.

• This belief was very popular in the US South during the 1920’s.

• Southern states passed laws that made it illegal to teach Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.

John Scopes

• To challenge the constitutionality of such laws, the ACLU persuaded a Tennessee biology teacher, John Scopes to teach the theory of evolution to his high school biology class

• For doing so, Scopes was arrested and brought to trial in 1925

The Scopes Trial

• The entire nation followed the trial in the newspapers and on the radio.

• Clarence Darrow represented Scopes. Three time Democratic candidate William Jennings Bryan prosecuted the case.

• The highlight of the case was when Darrow embarrassed Bryan on the stand about the bible (Bryan was a self professed bible expert).

• Bryan died of a stoke shortly after.

Trial of the decade

• People pro and anti Scopes were camping out in front of the courthouse to get in to the trial. Why do you think the American public was so interested in this trial?

Results and Aftermath

• As expected, Scopes was convicted. However, his conviction was later overturned on a technicality.

• Darrow was a hero in the North, where it was basically assumed that he had totally discredited Fundamentalism (mostly a Southern belief).

• Anti-Evolutionary laws remained on the books for years.

• To this day, however, the basic question of religion and the public schools remains controversial and unresolved. (Intelligent design)