The Scopes Trial: Navigating the Clash Between Evolution and Creationism

Evolution is a scientific theory established to explain the origin and development of biodiversity through time. It is based on the inheritance of characteristics from parents to offspring from generation to generation. It is a theory that was established as a scientific way of explaining the origin of humans. However, there are many other theories, and Biblical theory of creation is one of the biggest and most widely used. John Scopes was a teacher from Tennessee, and in the year 1925, he was charged with teaching his students about evolution as the theory to explain the origins of humans. At the time this was an act that was illegal in the state and went against the Butler acts. He was tried in court and was fined a hundred dollars for the crime. The Butler Act was a law developed in Tennessee in the year 1925 and was aimed at prohibiting the use of the evolution theory as an explanation for the origins of humans. At the time, this theory was developing great momentum in the scientific world and was slowly overshadowing the biblical accounts of creation as the main source of explanation of the origins of humans. The charge of John began a series of challenges of the act. The main issue associated with the case is the challenges that the evolution theory brings to the biblical account of creation and origin of humans. The evolution theory was scientific and is based on empirical evidence. As a result of the theory of evolution greatly undermined the biblical account of creation and law makers sought to find a way to protect the biblical theory from being overshadowed by the evolution theory (Woolnough, 2010).

The theory of evolution came to be thanks to Charles Darwin who championed it based on empirical evidence from astronomical, paleontological, biological and geological results. His theory gave rise to scientific evidence that contradicted that of the biblical theory of creation. This is a theory that greatly challenged the Christian belief and faith because it undermined and questioned the biblical account of creation by providing scientific evidence. As a result, the conflict between the evolution and biblical theory as explanations for the origin of humans has only increased in intensity and size because of the lack of reconciliation between the two. For many years the conflict has forced the evolution theory from being taught in schools. The 20th century saw great levels of indifference where conservative Christians tried to prevent the theory from being taught in schools. It led to the biblical theory of creation to become the single theory for explaining the origins of humans. Many tried to eliminate the teaching of the theory of evolution. Despite such conflicts, the theory of evolution grew regarding basis, and the number of people that saw it as a solid and established theory also grew. The fact that is a theory based on empirical evidence led to its high level of establishment. Many started to see the biblical theory as highly defended ion faith, hunches and lacked a clear explanation many also began to dismiss creations more of a religion and less of science. The case of John Scopes shows the conflict between the two theories. The case took place at a time where conservative Christians had more influence in the world, and they had alienated the evolution theory from being taught in class (Hagen and Lisa, 2004).

The main issue with the John Scopes case is the ability of the Evolution theory to have more support. Teaching it to children provided a great risk of them undermining the biblical theory of creation. Many conservative Christians feared that people would have less support for the biblical theory. The fact that the evolution theory had empirical evidence gave it more strength over the biblical theory, but at the time the theory had little support from the society. However, the development of the act to criminalize the teaching of the evolution theory was unfair and against people's right of expression. People have the right to choose what they want. John was convicted and was fined a hundred dollars for his action. It was until later in the future did the law get challenges from proponents of the evolution theory. In the year 1967, the law was challenged based on the fact that it was undermining people’s right to expression. There have been developed acts of law to repeal the Butler act, and they have been enacted into law (Hagen and Lisa, 2004).

It is, therefore, very important to comprehend the influence of culture and belief and how it can influence the society. In the case of John Scopes, the Christian religion had great influence in the society to the extent of developing an act to prevent the teaching of evolution theory in schools. The development of such an act was because of the ability of the evolution theory to undermine the credibility of the biblical theory of creation as an explanation of the origins of humans. However, the development of the act and the conviction of John scopes were made at a time when discrimination and lack of civil liberties were rampant (Woolnough, 2010).

Work Cited

Hagen, L. Kirk and Lisa Morano. "The Texas Textbook Wars." Skeptic, vol. 11, no. 1, Mar. 2004, pp. 18-20.

Woolnough, Brian E. "Science and Christianity: Friends or Foes?." Transformation (02653788), vol. 27, no. 2, Apr. 2010, pp. 83-94.