The Effects Of The Scopes Monkey Trial

The Scopes trial was the case against John Scopes, a biology teacher in Dayton Tennessee. Scopes was charged for defying Tennessee's newly placed Butler Act. This case is what catapulted the dispute of creationism versus evolution and how it should be taught in schools. The outcome of this 1925 trial affected the rest of the 19th century extensively, however as the 20th century neared, the effect became less prevalent.
John Scopes was a local biology teacher and was arrested for teaching evolution, the "Scopes Monkey Trial" was the case against him. The grounds for John Scopes’ arrest was that he violated the Butler Act. The Tennessee Butler Act was a law that banned public school teachers from denying the Bible’s account of man's origin. …show more content…
This trial became the center of arguments for pro-evolutionists and anti-evolutionists. While this case was one of the largest “wars between science and fundamentalist Christianity” (Grabiner, 832-837) public opinion during the time suggests that although the outcome favored Bryan’s side of the case, people’s opinions leaned towards pro-evolution. Rising popularity of fundamentalist ideas spread quickly during the 1920s. Fundamentalists wanted to extend their religious beliefs after the movement to outlaw liquor was successful. Once they had a “win”, fundamentalists moved onto their next task, to outlaw discussion of evolution in schools. Preachers used theatrical techniques in an attempt to link the ideas of evolution to crude ideas and topics, “Preachers claimed that Darwin's ideas promoted the four P's: prostitution, perversion, pornography, and permissiveness” (Moore, 790–796). While nothing of Darwin’s theory allude to any of these topics, many people felt threatened. Fundamentalists used fear-mongering techniques to produce the idea that pro-evolutionists were wrong and