Don’t Monkey With God’s Image

Written By Jonathan Krogh

Dear Fellow Primates:

Today is July 21st and marks the 100th anniversary of the conclusion of the Scopes trial, in which substitute high school teacher John T. Scopes was charged with violating the Butler Act in Tennessee by teaching evolution in a biology class in Dayton, Tennessee. Most of us are familiar with the trial through the lens of Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee’s play Inherit the Wind, the movie version of which came out in 1960 with Spencer Tracy and Gene Kelly. While neither the play nor the movie claims to be a historic representation of the actual crime or trial, I find several historic realities to be of interest.

When William Jennings Bryan took the position of prosecutor against Scopes, he did so out of deep concern not for the supremacy of the creation account as depicted in the book of Genesis, but because of what the proponents of evolution were saying about humanity. While we think of creationists as science-bashing crackpots, in 1925, Darwin’s theory of evolution was being used to defend a growing eugenics movement. Since, as Darwin posited, any species’ survival depended upon its fitness for the environment, eugenicists argued that any breeding of the human species should be carefully curated, ensuring that no inferior genetic material be passed on in subsequent generations. Like thoroughbred racehorses, people should be allowed to procreate based on their physiological, mental and moral capacities. Underlying this concept was deep racism and profound bias against the disabled.

Underlying Bryan’s opposition to the teaching of evolution was not a Biblicist’s literalism, but the larger Christian admonition to care “for the least of these” (Matthew 25.40-45). Bryan feared a rending of American society into tiers of privilege based on stratified racial identity rather than general human dignity. Bryan’s major concern was not Scopes' misdemeanor violation of the Tennessee statute; he even offered to pay Scopes' fine if he were found guilty of teaching of evolution. Bryan’s greater concern regarded the 1914 textbook, A Civic Biology, used by Scopes, which contained a substantial section arguing the importance of careful human breeding. Ironically, the textbook had been approved by the Tennessee Board of Education for use in high school classrooms, but in his prosecution of Scopes, Bryan claimed Darwinian concepts could subvert the politics of the United States, saying that "survival of the fittest" could be used to justify a laissez-faire capitalism, imperialism and militarism, warning that Darwin's theories could be used to justify mass sterilization in order to selectively breed the best organisms.

Bryan was denied the opportunity to offer his summation in court, as Clarence Darrow, Scopes' defense attorney, waived his closing argument. Tennessee law prohibited the prosecution from closing statements when the defense waived the privilege. As a result, Bryan had to share his statement with the press, which may be read in its entirety here.

As we know, Scopes was found guilty of violating the Butler Act and was fined $100. Scopes' legal team appealed the decision on the grounds that the Act violated freedom of speech and the religious anti-establishment clause of the Constitution. In response, the Tennessee Supreme Court disagreed with the prosecution, upholding the constitutionality of the Butler Act but overturning Scopes' conviction and fine given that Tennessee law required the jury, not the judge, to set any fine of more than $50.

It’s been 100 years since Scopes was found guilty in a trial that historians remember as something of a circus, as national and international press attempted to bill it as a battle between science and religion, and maybe that was true. Perhaps I am musing today only to defend a fellow Nebraskan, but as is the case with so much history, the story isn’t as simple as we’ve been led to believe.

Biased for any argument to preserve human dignity, I remain,

With Love,
Jonathan Krogh
Your Pastor

Jonathan Krogh
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