Summer For The Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate over Science and Religion, Larson - B+

                      In 1913, an Englishman discovered the fossilized remains of 'Piltdown Man,' who many believed was the 'missing link' confirming Darwin's theory of evolution. As the evidence in favor of evolution accumulated, there was a a fundamentalist backlash in the US.  Science and religion had clashed throughout the second half of the 19th century as many thought that "Darwin's denial of design in nature was virtually the denial of God." As more Americans attended high school, particularly in the south, evolution as discussed in the textbook 'Civil Biology' ran up against the anti-evolution crusaders.  Led by William Jennings Bryan, many Protestants moved militantly to  the right. The Great Commoner toured the country honing his 'Menace of Darwinism' speech.  "In his crusade to rally people against teaching evolution, Bryan was nearly omnipresent." Tennessee was the first state to pass an anti-evolution statute in the spring of 1925. The ACLU immediately announced it would defend any teacher prosecuted in the state. The small town of Dayton was looking for some publicity and business, and hatched the idea of being the locale for the test case of the new law. John Scopes, who taught math and physics, and was substituting for the regular biology teacher agreed to be the defendant in the state's prosecution. In essence, one of the most famous trials in American history was created by boosters looking to promote their small town. Bryan, who hadn't practiced law in decades, volunteered to prosecute Scopes. Clarence Darrow, the country's best-known defense counsel, volunteered to defend Scopes. What had started as a narrow case about constitutionality and a legislature's right to control schools,  would now be a nationally followed circus placing religion in a battle with anti-religion. It was now a bible-thumping orator versus an agnostic who believed religion to be the root of much evil. Educators across the north criticized the law, and both Albert Einstein and George Bernard Shaw weighed in from Europe. The trial began July 10th. 

                    With temperatures approaching 100 degrees, Judge John Raulston allowed all to dispense with coats and ties. After a very long opening prayer, the jury was selected in a few hours. Darrow later said that "it was obvious after a few rounds that the jury would be unanimously hot for Genesis." The next three days were spent on the defense's motion to dismiss.  Darrow's argument was that the statute was unconstitutional in that it established a particular religious viewpoint and the Tennessee constitution assured that people "could worship according to their own conscience." The motion was denied. The prosecution's case rested after four students testified that Scopes used the offending 'Civil Biology' textbook to teach evolution. Days were spent debating the prosecution's motion to exclude defense's expert testimony, which was intended to show that evolution and religion were not mutually exclusive. Bryan dueled Dudley Malone of New York in an absolutely brilliant debate which garnered nationwide attention. Succumbing to political pressure, the judge denied the defense's witnesses the opportunity to testify. Darrow called Bryan as an expert on the Bible as his only witness. The ensuing examination was a debate between the two giants with Darrow trying to catch Bryan on his literal reading of the Bible. Darrow peppered him about Jonah and the whale, Cain's wife, and Joshua causing the sun to stand still. Darrow got the better of Bryan, but to no avail. Raulston ordered that Bryan's testimony be struck. Darrow cynically suggested the court instruct the jury to find the defendant guilty, rested his case and waived closing arguments. Scopes was found guilty and the judge assessed a $100 fine.

                     As Bryan never had the chance to present his closing argument, he stayed in Dayton fine-tuning his 15,000 word speech. He died in his sleep a few days later. Dayton returned to normal. Scopes left for graduate school at the University of Chicago. He declined all opportunities to capitalize on his fame. The state appeals court narrowly upheld the statute, but overturned the conviction of Scopes because the judge, and not the jury, had imposed the fine. Arguing over who had prevailed continued for decades. Frederick Lewis Allen, a journalist, wrote a history of the 1920's called 'Only Yesterday.' It was a bestseller and a college textbook for fifty years. Allen depicted the trial as part of a decline in older values and a clear defeat for the fundamentalists. The fundamentalists did not abandon their faith, but "set about constructing a separate subculture with independent religious, educational, and social institutions. By the 1940's, a fundamentalist subculture had formed in the United States, with a creationist scientific establishment of its own." In the 1950's, many began to consider the trial as a foreshadowing of the Red Scare and McCarthyism. This consideration inspired the play and movie 'Inherit The Wind.' It was not history, just very good theater. It honored Darrow too much and unfairly eviscerated Bryan. The 1960's saw Tennessee repeal the anti-evolution statute. Fundamentalism has prospered in the last half century and by the 1990's, the mission was to allow creationism to be treated as an equal theory with evolution. In 2011, Tennessee passed a law called the Academic Freedom Statute, encouraging teachers to be skeptical about evolution and climate change. As the law included a non-religious issue, climate change, and because of the composition of the Supreme Court, the law has not been challenged. Roughly 40% of the American population believes God created man in the last 10,000 years. "The Scopes narrative of fundamentalism versus modernity, majority rule versus individual rights, and science versus religion remains fresh not only because  of the antievolution campaign, but also because of opposing demands for and against reproductive, LBGT+, and gun rights. Pitched battles over climate science compound the issue while partisan politics, conspiracy theories, fake news, and social media reinforce cultural divides." This book received a Pulitzer Prize in the late 1990's and has an updated  2020 Afterword.