Conflict Between Traditionalism And Religion In The 1920's

Although America was between world wars during the 1920s, it was undergoing a Civil War where the traditionalists, those opposed to new ideas, battled the modernists, those who desired to bring about change within society. Before World War I, traditionalism was the status quo, and religion was at the center of society. The 1920s sparked a new era that challenged religious, specifically Christian values, where people sought to create their own identities. The conflict between modernism and traditionalism can be seen within people’s changing of sexual attitudes and science challenging Christian principles.
Margaret Sanger, the leader of the Birth Control Movement in the 1920s and founder of what is now know of Planned Parenthood once said, “no woman can call herself free who does not own and …show more content…
Most famously, The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes (the “Scopes Trial”) embodied the broader dispute between modernism and traditionalism regarding religion and science. Scopes was a substitute teacher in Dayton, Tennessee that was accused of teaching evolution in science class, which directly went against Tennessee state law. Christian fundamentalist, William Jennings Bryan, travelled from Nebraska to Tennessee to be the prosecutor in the case as he genuinely believed Scopes had committed a horrible crime. Bryan represented traditionalists everywhere that insisted teaching evolution contradicted the Bible’s story of creation. Defending Scopes was the legendary attorney Clarence Darrow, known for being an advocate of progression. This trial was not a question of whether Scopes defied the law, but whether the law he defied should have been in place and enforced. Ultimately, Scopes was convicted, but the trial publicized the more global issue of whether the strict tenants of Christianity should control people’s lives and whether change was a good