Clint Cooper, "Authors say public still holds misconceptions of Scopes trial" (2005)

"Chattanooga Times" (Tennessee)

May 29, 2005 Sunday; Pg. B13

Authors say public still holds misconceptions of Scopes trial

By Clint Cooper; Staff Writer

John Perry, co-author of "Monkey Business," a new book about the 1925 Scopes trial in Dayton, Tenn., said most Americans have an incomplete  understanding of the facts of the famous creation vs. evolution case.

What passes for history to many people is what they have heard, read and repeated from the 1955 play "Inherit the Wind," from the 1960 fictionalized  movie or from newspaper accounts by H.L. Mencken, Mr. Perry said.

"People don't have to agree with me, but they should be knowledgeable about the facts," said Mr. Perry, a Nashville resident who said he takes a creationist view of the issue. "They need to peel away all of the spin and baggage and barnacles people attach to this stuff."

Mr. Perry's book, co-authored with Dr. Marvin Olasky, was released May 15 as Dayton is preparing to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the trial in July.

He said little-known facts about the 1925 trial include:

*Both the then-newly reorganized American Civil Liberties Union and Dayton businessmen saw merit in challenging Tennessee's new anti-evolution law for publicity reasons. The ACLU wanted to promote a liberal agenda, while the Dayton businessmen wanted to turn around the city's economy.

*John Scopes, the man tried for teaching evolution, was not a biology teacher and had only substitute taught in biology classes. He never mentioned evolution in a class until efforts were under way for him to be accused in the test case. He was shocked the trial caused such an uproar and had to be convinced to return to Dayton from his home in Kentucky to finish the case.

*Clarence Darrow, the attorney who represented Mr. Scopes, had been considering retirement and was persuaded to take the case by Mr. Mencken to "make a fool" of William Jennings Bryan, who had agreed to serve as a special prosecutor for the state. He hoped to lose the trial in order to have the chance to win in higher courts and receive additional publicity.

*Mr. Bryan was not against the teaching of evolution in schools as a hypothesis and was not in favor of teaching Bible in the public schools. He did not die as a result of the trial but was energized and excited about a speaking tour he was preparing to make after winning the trial.

Mr. Perry said Mr. Mencken's accounts of the trial in a Baltimore newspaper left the impression that those who believed in creationism were "backwoods, ignorant, barefooted, marry-your-cousin-type rubes."

Mr. Perry said he and Dr. Olasky ask that readers approach their arguments with an open mind.

"I hope people will take an honest look at the evidence, know the facts of the Scopes trial, see what (evolution proponent Charles Darwin) said and what he didn't say," Mr. Perry said.  [

Dr. Charles A. Israel, a visiting professor of history at the University of the South, said evolution was "why the fight happened," but one of the "bigger issues" of the Scopes trial was control of children.

The author of a 2004 book, "Before Scopes: Evangelicals, Education and Evolution in Tennessee, 1970-1925," he said in an online History News Network article that "the driving force of the anti-evolution controversy is and has been control of children, their education, and, through these means, controlling the future of society."

Mr. Perry said he hopes people will look beyond the stereotypes if they read the book.

"We're not saying they should accept creation science or intelligent design," he said. "We're saying the Darwinian mechanism on the origin of the species is not sufficient on its own to explain the world around us."

E-mail Clint Cooper at [email protected]

Copyright 2005 Chattanooga Publishing Company