During the Scopes Monkey Trial, a significant event in the creation - evolution debate, science teacher John Scopes of Dayton, Tennessee, was found in violation of the Butler Law, which prohibited the teaching of evolution in Tennessee (“The Monkey Trial”). In the trial, the first to be broadcasted on radio, the jury sided with the law, resulting in Scopes being fined, but the debate that played out and the ridicule that was prevalent throughout the case actually proved to be a victory for evolution theory supporters instead (“The Monkey Trial” ). However, this century old, fundamental clash did not start from this infamous trial; rather, it can be traced to a single publication: On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles …show more content…
The Darwinian view of life depicted life as an amoral, biological state of being: life is nothing but the product of a series of chemical, biological, and physical events. This idea fundamentally contradicts creationism by implying that anyone could do anything they wanted, and the only punishments or rewards received would be from this earth and not some higher power (Rhodes). However, the creationist view of life describes life as a means to an end: life is the path to some greater state of being. Therefore, any action done not only has worldly consequences but also divine; creationism demands a moralistic life with a higher, elevated sense of purpose and being. To many people, Darwin’s ideology was freeing and appealed to the selfishness of basic human nature: they did not have to make ethical decisions if their life was simply all there was to life. In America, most urban churches had already integrated evolutionism into their ideology by the 1920s, but more rural institutions kept to their strict teachings (“The Monkey