On March 13, 1925, the State of Tennessee passed a law which made it illegal in any state funded school to teach any theory that denied the Biblical narrative of creation. On May 5, 1925, a high school teacher named John Scopes was charged with the crime of teaching evolution from a chapter in a textbook which presented ideas contained in 'On The Origin of Species' by Charles Darwin. The prosecution was headed by William Jennings Bryan. Clarence Darrow defended John Scopes. The trial lasted for eight days. The jury returned with a guilty verdict in nine minutes. The judge fined John Scopes one hundred dollars. The guilty verdict was later set aside in appeal because of a legal technicality. The jury not the judge should have decided the fine. In 1968 the United States Supreme Court ruled against the Tennessee law and all other such laws because their primary purpose was religious.
Creationism challenged so many years ago is once again on the political scene.
Be very careful.
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