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The '''Scopes Trial''', sometimes known as the "Scopes monkey trial," took place in [[Tennessee]] in 1925. It was engineered as a challenge to the state's Butler Act which prohibited public schools from teaching the theory that man had evolved from more primitive life forms. The defendant was John T. Scopes (1900- 1970), a teacher who had volunteered for the challenge.  Scopes was convicted, and the conviction was soon overturned on a technicality and never appealed. The trial was one of the most watched epsiodes in the history of American religious and American education. It was seen as a confrontation between modern science and [[Fundamentalism]] in its belief in the inerrancy of the Bible.

The '''Scopes Trial''', sometimes known as the "Scopes monkey trial," took place in [[Tennessee]] in 1925. It was engineered as a challenge to the state's Butler Act which prohibited public schools from teaching the theory that man had evolved from more primitive life forms. The willing defendant, John Scopes, was duly convicted, although this was later overturned on a technicality. The trial gained notoriety after it was dramatized for both stage (1955) and screen (1960). Titled ''[[Inherit the Wind]]'', both dramatizations distorted the facts of the case and were promoted to harm [[Christianity]].<ref>"'Inherit the Wind' relentlessly distorts what happened in Dayton, Tenn., in 1925."[http://www.beliefnet.com/story/2/story_226_1.html]</ref><ref>As recently as April 17, 2007, the ''Village Voice'' endorsed a new Broadway rendition of ''Inherit the Wind'' as "a dramatization of the 1925 [Scopes] trial."[http://www.villagevoice.com/theater/0716,feingold,76394,11.html]</ref>  The highlight of the trial was when [[Clarence Darrow]] agreed to testify as a witness if [[William Jennings Bryan]] would also testify.  First Bryan testified before a huge crowd, but when Darrow's turn came he instead reneged on his deal and ended the trial by asking the jury to find his client guilty, which ended the trial.

 

The dramatic highlight of the trial was when famed defense lawyer [[Clarence Darrow]] called procesution lawyer [[William Jennings Bryan]] top testify as an expert on the Bible.  

== Publicity Motivation ==

== Publicity Motivation ==

== The Trial ==

== The Trial ==

Darrow brought the Scopes case in the hopes of winning a public relations and legal victory. Historians agree that the publicity victory went to Darrow, but the prosecution won a legal victory in the trial when Scopes was convicted.

Darrow brought the Scopes case in the hopes of winning a public relations and legal victory. Historians typically believe in evolution and declare victory for Darrow, but in fact Darrow and the ACLU lost the case badly and Tennessee continued to limit the teaching of evolution in [[public schools]] for roughly another 50 years.

The [[ACLU]] challenged a Tennessee statute, the Butler Act, that imposed a fine for teaching in government schools that man descended from more primitive life forms.  The statute did not prohibit teaching most aspects of [[evolution]].  The textbook at issue in the case suggested indirectly (through a tree-like diagram) that man descended from lower life forms.

The [[ACLU]] challenged a Tennessee statute, the Butler Act, that imposed a fine for teaching in government schools that man descended from more primitive life forms.  The statute did not prohibit teaching most aspects of [[evolution]].  The textbook at issue in the case suggested indirectly (through a tree-like diagram) that man descended from lower life forms.