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📘The Effects of Antimodernism in the 1920s: 2

Scientific Findings and the Culture War

Fundamentalist Protestants, who believed in a literal interpretation of the Bible and its precedence over all human knowledge, opposed some of the key scientific ideas of the age because they seemed to challenge biblical beliefs. These ideas included Einstein's theory of relativity and Freudian psychology, but the fundamentalists focused their efforts on banning the teaching of Darwin's theory of evolution in schools because they perceived it as a challenge to the biblical theory of creation. In 1925, Tennessee passed the Butler Act to ban the teaching of evolution, and about 20 other states were considering antievolution legislation. In May 1925, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) put out an advertisement that offered to pay the legal expenses of any teacher who was willing the challenge the Butler law in Tennessee. A group of Dayton residents saw the ad and, sensing an opportunity to make themselves and their town famous, started looking for a teacher who was willing to challenge the ban in court.
The Scopes Monkey Trial The opposition of religious fundamentalists to increasing scientific evidence for Darwin's theory reached US courts in July 1925 when a biology teacher from Tennessee declared that he had violated the Butler law, courted arrest, and challenged the ban.	John T. Scopes After he defied the ban, John T. Scopes, a young biology teacher from Dayton, Tennessee, was charged with illegally teaching the theory of evolution. Scopes's legal defense was backed by the ACLU and many local parents and teachers.
	Clarence Darrowclose Clarence Darrow, a renowned lawyer, atheist, and former supporter of Bryan, defended Scopes. Darrow put up an excellent fight in court against Bryan and even against Judge Raulston. He exposed Bryan's ignorance of biblical studies and requested the evangelist judge to keep his religious beliefs out of the courtroom. Darrow lost the case, but he is remembered for his intelligent arguments in Scopes's defense.
William Jennings Bryan Among the rural fundamentalists, former presidential candidate and secretary of state William Jennings Bryan was a prominent supporter of the ban. In 1921, Bryan promoted legislation prohibiting the teaching of evolution. Several southern states were quick to implement the ban. Bryan led the prosecution's case in the Scopes trial. Over the 12 days the trial lasted, Bryan attacked the theory of evolution, but the defense relentlessly entrapped Bryan and exposed his ignorance of biblical history and scholarship. Bryan died of a heart condition five days after the trial ended.
The Outcome The court found Scopes guilty, and he was fined $100. The fine was overruled later because of a technicality. The trial exposed the fundamentalists' position to much public criticism, yet some more southern and western states subsequently passed legislation to ban the teaching of evolution. The Scopes trial, often referred to informally as the Scopes monkey trial Links to an external site., is still significant in US history, as much for the nature of the arguments the competing parties presented in the case as for its outcome. A carnival atmosphere pervaded Dayton, Tennessee, during the trial, in which the 12-man jury included 11 regular churchgoers. The ACLU worked hard to focus the attention of the national media on this trial, and it became the first US court case to be aired on national radio, generating worldwide interest in the proceedings and qualifying it as the "trial of the century" for decades to come.