Scopes Trial Reenacted in Kansas
L A W R E N C E, Kan., July 13, 2000 -- The audience was encouraged to applaud,murmur, hiss or shout hallelujah. One sign on stage simply calledfor “hubbub” — not surprising, given the subject being debated.
Seventy-five years after the Scopes “monkey trial” over theteaching of evolution, parts of the landmark court case werere-enacted in Kansas, the latest ground zero in the battle overwhat to teach kids about the origin of life.
As about 1,500 people watched, actors read from transcripts ofthe 1925 trial in Tennessee that pitted William Jennings Bryanagainst defense attorney Clarence Darrow.
The outcome was never in doubt. Biology teacher John Scopes wasconvicted and fined $100 for teaching evolution. His conviction waslater overturned by the Tennessee Supreme Court on proceduralgrounds.
Trial Issues Still Relevant
One exchange elicited both laughter and applause. Bryan, playedby Ed Asner (“Lou Grant,” Mary Tyler Moore Show), turned tohis colleague and said: “You may guess — evolutionists guess.”
Darrow, played by James Cromwell (“Babe,” L.A.Confidential), replied, “But when we do guess, we have the senseto guess right.”
The People for the American Way Foundation sponsored the event,as well as a panel discussion and debate on evolution andcreationism following the performance.
Foundation president Ralph Neas said the state education board’sdecision in August 1999 to de-emphasize evolution in sciencetesting standards made Kansas a natural venue for the event.
“How Kansas resolves this dispute will ripple out in alldirections to affect the education of millions of children who havenever even set foot in this state,” Neas said.
Americans Want it Both Ways
Evolution, first propounded by Charles Darwin, advocates that theEarth is billions of years old and that life forms developed overmillions of years.
Creationism, or creation science, teaches that the Earth andmost life forms came into existence suddenly about 6,000 years ago.Critics have attacked it as a disguise for a literal translation ofthe Bible’s Book of Genesis.
A Gallup Poll conducted last year found that 68 percent ofAmerican adults favored teaching both creationism and evolution inthe public schools. By a margin of 55 percent to 40 percent, theyopposed replacing evolution with creationism. The margin of errorwas plus or minus 3 percentage points.
The debate has heated up recently in a number of states,including Alabama, Idaho, Nebraska, New Mexico, West Virginia,Arizona, Michigan, Indiana, Louisiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma,Illinois, Washington and Colorado.
Neas said activities in those states have ranged from efforts todelete evolution from science standards and tests to including adisclaimer in textbooks downplaying the importance of the theory.
In Kansas, the science standards that de-emphasize evolutionalso make no mention of the big-bang theory of the origin of theuniverse. The standards are used to develop statewide tests forstudents.
Creationists Complain of Censorship
The education board’s decision to approve the standards has focused national attentionon Kansas and made evolution a political issue. Five of the board’s10 seats will be filled in the Nov. 7 general election.
Linda Holloway, who was the board’s chairwoman when it approvedthe new science standards and is seeking re-election, said thatwhile the evolution debate continues 75 years after the Scopestrial, creationists are the ones under attack now.
“We’ve come 180 degrees; now we’ve got censorship the otherway,” Holloway said Tuesday at the board’s monthly meeting. Shedid not attend Wednesday’s event, which drew people on both sidesof the debate.
Jack Krebs, representing Kansas Citizens for Science,distributed fliers criticizing the Kansas board’s decision, whileEric and Celtie Johnson displayed anti-evolution signs. One said,“Reject evolution, thousands of scientists do!”
Before the re-creation, Kansas native Asner said scientists haveaccumulated evidence in “a million different ways” to supportevolution since the Scopes trial.
“Kansas has put itself in a more bumbling situation with thisboard than Tennessee was 75 years ago,” he said.