Science And Religion : The School And Education System

The twentieth century Scopes trial may have started out as a simple debate between evolutionists and creationists, but quickly escalated to a debate of historic proportions. The 1920s were times of change in the United States, from women getting the right to vote to prohibition to changes in education, such as the Butler Act, which created unease and animosity throughout the country. The Butler Act of 1925 prohibited the teaching of evolution and any other theories that deny the story of the divine creation of man as taught in the Bible in all Universities and public schools in Tennessee. John Scopes, a high-school biology teacher in Dayton, Tennessee decided to test this law. He was found guilty of teaching evolution to his high-school

The riddle of the origin of man has been subject to many ponderings and theories for thousands of years. In America, two theories concerning this timeless question have driven a spike through the general populace. These two beliefs, Evolution and Christianity, have driven a riff through the American populace and fueled several debates and conflicts over which is the truer theory. Incidents such as the decision of the Kansas school board to ban schools from including the Evolution Theory from their curriculum are becoming a tragically frequent and threaten to escalate if not checked soon. However, there is a growing belief in America today in the possibility of believing that evolution is an inescapable fact while still

Through the 1920s, conflicts regarding the teachings of religious values versus Evolution, along with the increasing fight for women’s independence, caused a great deal of tension within America. Prior to the ‘20s schools taught the Bible and Christianity’s principles were stressed. It was in 1925 when Clarence Darrow defended John Scopes, a biology teacher, who was put on trial in the court for teaching the theory of Evolution (Doc C). This document illustrates the dialogue of

In the 1920's, many people became familiar with religions that are known today. Religions would follow what is so-called “ planned for them” written in the books. The Butler Act made it illegal to teach about religions from the textbooks. This included that teachers as any school were allowed to teach and about the science of evolution. The conflicts that the Butler Act made were between tradition and modernity. This act was worrying parents that it would change, and make a big effect for their children's education. These are reasons why people cared about the Butler Act. It also questioned the simple debate between evolution and creation. John Scopes was the first to argue about the importance of teaching science. Later on, there was a Scopes trial in Dayton,Tennessee.

On March 13, 1925 the state of Tennessee passed the Butler Act. This law prohibited teaching the Theory of Evolution in Tennessee public schools. Any teacher who taught a theory that denied the story of the Divine Creation would be punished by a fine. The American Civil Liberties Union offered legal defense to any Tennessee teacher who would break the law and fight it in court. John Thomas Scopes was a teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, and he intentionally taught his class about the theory of evolution, which led to his arrest and trial.

The 1920’s was a time of prosperity and change in the United States, but with change comes disagreements. One of the largest debates during this time period, and still today, was the debate between science and religion. Many people were Christians in America during this time and they believed that the story of how God created the Earth should be taught in public schools. These people were called “fundamentalists.” They believed nothing could compare to or be as powerful as God’s word. The other side to this debate were the Modernists, or the ones who believed in science rather than religion. Modernists wanted to teach the theory of evolution in public schools instead of the Creation story the Fundamentalists believed in (“United States in History”). All of these different opinions led to one of the most famous trials known as the Scopes v. State of Tennessee trial. John Scopes was a substitute teacher in Tennessee who decided to teach the theory of evolution to a science class. Scopes was accused of violating the Butler Act, which states that teaching anything that

In America, in the 1920s, two significant cultural movements arose that eventually clashed. A Christian fundamentalist movement arose in America and the fundamentalist’s goal during this time was to recover and publicly institutionalize old time religious fundamental values. Fundamentalist believed in a literal interpretation of the Bible, and thus strongly objected to the teachings of Charles Darwin, since his theory of evolution contradicted the origin of man as found in the Bible. In the 1920s, the Christian fundamentalist began to gain political power across America and started passing legislation banning the teaching of Darwinism in state funded schools. At the same time cultural modernism was also rising in America. Modernist believes in a secular government and their agenda was education, democratic reforms, and economic progress. These two conflicting ideologies would inevitably clash, which occurred in the Scopes Trial of

In the “Monkey Trial” William Jennings Bryan spoke as the leader of the Christian fundamentalist, what him and his followers wanted to do was for the people and court to find out how unfair it was for something that they perceived as “materialistic and anti-religious be taught in the very same classrooms from which all religious instruction had been banned” (Thomas, 2009 p. 25). This situation created a lot of debates among the people. Many things changed in the American public schools that arise because of the evolution theory and religion.

In 1925, the Butler Act was passed, which prohibited the teaching of evolution in public schools. The teaching of evolution was seen as a destructive force that would destroy civilization, and a threat to the word of God (Document 3a). An American teacher, John Scopes, was sent to trial for teaching evolution in his biology class. During the trial, Dudley Field Malone, an attorney at the time, argued that the courts were not debating whether Scopes taught a couple of pages of evolution to his class. Rather, they were debating whether or not society should be based on religion or science (Document 4). This produced a shift from ancient beliefs to modern ideas because the popular trial was able to finally bring science to life in

Within philosophy, there has long been a question about the relationship between science and religion. These two systems of human experience have undoubtedly had a lot of influence in the course of mankind’s development. The philosopher Ian Barbour created a taxonomy regarding science and religion that has become widely influential. His taxonomy postulates that there are four ways in which science and religion are thought to interact. The four categories are: conflict, independence, dialogue, and integration. By using articles from a select few philosophers, theologians, and scientists, it is clear to see the ways in which these two systems of human experience are categorized in the four categories presented by Ian barbour. However, it will be apparent that the category of conflict may be seen as the most dominant in regard to the interaction between science and religion.

On April 24, 1925, John Thomas Scopes was charged with the teaching of evolution, which went against the Butler Act. The Butler Act made it illegal to teach any theory denying the divine creation of man in all of Tennessee’s public schools. Up until then, it was widely accepted that the origin of man hadn’t derived from wild animals.

Starting with the Scopes Trial, many more cases have occurred concerning the teaching of evolution. “By 1928 every southern state except Virginia had debated or was considering legislation banning the teaching of evolution in the

“In 1925, Tennessee outlawed teaching the theory of human evolution in public schools.” This ban of evolution was taken to court and was named the Scopes Monkey Trial, since the Tennessee teacher John Scopes was the defendant in the case. However, as Ronald Numbers states in his book, Galileo Goes to Jail: and other myths about science and religion, this was a response “to the invitation of the American Civil Liberties Union, which opposed the statute on free-speech grounds, [so] town leaders in Dayton, Tennessee, decided to test the new statute in court by arranging a friendly indictment of a local science teacher named John Scopes.” In this trial many celebrities in politics and law presided over this trial, in the end it was more of a publicity stunt than anything else. Yet for many years, this trial was believed to be entirely about how the very Christian based community of Tennessee didn’t agree with the teachings of evolution. This event was misconstrued so much that it was even printed in school books that give examples of Sciences fight against the tyranny of Christianity. Newspapers printed headlines about this trial for years to come and it lead the public to believe that this was not just about publicity but about the actual fight of science vs

The Scopes trial, writes Edward Larson, to most Americans embodies “the timeless debate over science and religion.” (265) Written by historians, judges, and playwrights, the history of the Scopes trial has caused Americans to perceive “the relationship between science and religion in . . . simple terms: either Darwin or the Bible was true.” (265) The road to the trial began when Tennessee passed the Butler Act in 1925 banning the teaching of evolution in secondary schools. It was only a matter of time before a young biology teacher, John T. Scopes, prompted by the ACLU tested the law. Spectators and newspapermen came from allover to witness

In the centuries leading up to the “Jazz and the Machine Age”, the nineteen-twenties was in a major dispute over religious beliefs between the traditionalist and the modernists. In 1925, a trial was held that was known as the Scopes trial. John scopes, a high school teacher, taught the theory of evolution in a Tennessee public high school. At the time, Tennessee had a state law they made it illegal to teach evolution in schools. The modernists had believed that the teachings of evolution gave the public another perspective through science but not religion. The traditionalist however, feared that the teaching of the Bible would be lost along with religious morals if Scope had won the trial. Traditionalist had