Scopes Trial Case Study

Throughout American history, the teaching of creationism and evolution has caused great distress in classrooms nationwide. The “Scopes Trial” also known as “the most sinister movement in the United States” was an act by those in a small town located in Tennessee called Dayton. Filled with despair, politicians, school board members, and most importantly George Rappleyea, a businessman who had troubles in his mining company decided to create a trial for those that opposed the belief of evolution and creationism. Although this case was staged it would not have been possible by the passing of “The Butler Act”, an act that prohibited the teaching of evolution in Tennessee public schools. Because of the clear differences in the idea of the Scopes

Arkansas passed an act “The Balanced Treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science Art”. However in this case the court’s view was “the evidence is overwhelming that both the purpose and effect of Act 590 is the advancement of religion in the public schools.”(Olson) As a result, this evidently shows the division between the teaching of evolution and creationism. No matter where a law is passed a disagreement will be brought up saying this teaching is “unconstitutional”. Even though many view this teaching “unconstitutional” the concept of understanding biology is very critical. “ Evolution is the only scientific explanation for the diversity of life. It explains the striking similarities among vastly different forms of life, the changes that occur within populations, and the development of new life forms.”(Bull) Neglecting this idea can cause the opportunity of immense value. It extends your idea of understanding how our world became to be. However, the division between creationism and evolution will impact this as other trails besides the Scopes trial have had on the teaching of Biology. Due to this issue of disagreement, in the beginning, schools across the nation subsided the teaching of evolution; therefore, causing the creation of Darwin's ideas not be

During the 1950s, the Soviet Union defeated the United States in the “race to the moon.”(johnson) In effect, the National Science Foundation became concerned that Students across the nation would fall behind other nationalities as the curriculum was drastically changed.. Therefore, several programs were designed to bring up the teaching of science bringing back the ideas of Darwin's theories as evolution was added to biology books. This escalated the legal and political tension between creationists and evolutionists. Causing an anti-evolution movement to sweep across the nation as many religious groups to speak out against the teaching of evolution being re added. In the 1960’s they came up with a theory and introduced it nationally as “creation science”. “The theory of creation science claimed that the universe and life in it came about suddenly and from nothing”(Childs). Those that tended to agree with this theory consisted of religious citizens who believed the theory of darwin contained insufficient information. They argued that earth and life were recent creations, humans and apes come from different ancestors, and that earth's geology was initiated by sudden, violent events .(Hanson)The result of having different mindsets evidently show the barrier that these teachings have on the United States. This not only intensified the existing fight, but revealed the true