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7/10/26

Darwin's Two Weeks in Court

July 10th marked the One Hundred and First anniversary of "The Scopes Monkey Trial." How I missed the Centennial event is beyond explanation, but only a year late is better than letting it pass by without any comment. In 1925 the state of Tennessee passed the Butler Act, which made it a misdemeanor to teach any theory that denied the the Biblical truth of divine creation. The ACLU wanted to challenge the law's constitutionality and so they placed an add in the Chattanooga Daily Times newspaper offering to defend any teacher who would teach evolution. Enter John T. Scopes, a twenty four year old high school substitute teacher and football coach, who never taught biology before, a useful idiot if there ever was one. Scopes was recruited surreptitiously to teach a lecture on evolution by local business leaders, in order to reap publicity by creating a '"tourism trial" and thereby filling their coffers. Scopes was the substitute that day for the regular Biology teacher and taught from a text book that had evolution in it. Tennessee v Scopes was nearly a two week's long trial that became a national sensation. It was the first trial ever broadcast live on radio. WGN, Radio a 50,000 watt blow torch out of Chicago can be heard throughout the Midwest and East Coast, broadcasted the event at a cost of $1000.00 a day. The trial had become a circus that P.T. Barnum would have been proud of. To add to the excitement two famous legal juggernauts squared off, Williams Jennings Bryan for the prosecution v Clarence Darrow for the defense.

So what was the outcome? After two weeks of testimony, the jury deliberated for nine minutes, and by a unanimous decision found the defendant guilty. The judge fined Scopes $100.00. Two years later the State Supreme Court overthrew the appealed conviction on a technicality, the Jury, not the Judge was to decide the fine. The statute was never used again to prosecute a case and was only taken off the books in 1967 by the state legislature. After the trial, Scopes said he really didn't remember if indeed he had taught a lesson on evolution or not.

What really was on trial those two weeks in July 101 years ago? It wasn't about whether or not Mr. Scopes would be convicted of a misdemeanor. How could that ever have elicited the rapt national attention over a trial that would be akin to watching Traffic Court about a disputed parking ticket. No, this was the roaring twenties version of the OJ trial, in terms of national interest. It was a trial of Worldviews, pitting Naturalism against the Christian Worldview. If Darwin's theory would stand, there would be no need for a Divine Creator. According to Darwin we evolved from primordial soup over billions of years, by chance, and favorable mutations; we evolved from a one celled organism, step by step, into complex human beings. The mystery of life could then be explained only through biological processes, there is no soul or the metaphysical. We are but a product of time and chance, a perambulating vessel of water and chemical reactions, living meaningless lives. The 'elephant in the courtroom,' was the question begging to be asked, "Who is your God, is it Science or is it the Creator God of the Universe?" Darrow's intent as an ACLU lawyer was to mock the Bible and Bible believing Christians, painting them as "bigots and ignoramuses," who sought to control education in America. The Hollywood liberal spin machine took the reins after the trial making the movie Inherit the Wind, which portrayed Darrow as standing for the cause of science and progress, against the backwardness and intolerance of Bible believing Christians. Unfortunately, this is the narrative that many Americans believe today. Despite the fact that science has debunked Darwin's theory, it is still taught as fact in our High Schools and Universities. Those who oppose and speak out against evolution are shunned by peers and cancelled. This is the legacy of the Scopes Trial, a farcical publicity stunt that changed history for the worse.

Posted by Arthur C. Flickinger

6/21/26

in History

America 250 Years

Twenty score and ten years ago our forefathers wrote and signed a document we know as The Declaration of Independence. Its purpose was to declare our independence from Great Britain and announce it to the world. The genius of the document was that it not only declared our independence, but also served as a framework for the Constitutional Republic we have today. Thomas Jefferson was the primary author but not without the benefit of tedious hours of debate and editing by the Continental Congress for its approval. The founders were educated men, many of whom studied in England, so they were steeped in ancient history of the Greek and Roman Empires as well as English and European history. Of interest to the founders were the British civil wars fought between the King and Parliament between 1642 and 1651. Losing one's head over the outcomes of these wars was a common fate for the vanquished. King James the II whose father, Charles I, had been beheaded, ordered the deceased Oliver Cromwell's body, dug up, beheaded and displayed on a pike from London Bridge. You can cross the Thames on London Bridge but you can not cross the King. The seriousness of the action they were taking was not lost on the founders.

Turning the Divine Right of Kings on its head, no pun intended, Jefferson, in the first two paragraphs of the Declaration set the foundation of his argument based on "The Laws of Nature and of Nature's God." He acknowledges implicitly that all men are made in the image of God (Imago Dei), and because of this our rights come to every man equally, from our Creator, which no man can give to us or take away.

"We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

The triumvirate of rights, "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness," was meant to be an all-encompassing summary of the fundamental moral principles that guide decision making for both individuals and governments. The pursuit of happiness brings to mind a hedonistic pursuit of pleasure and riches. However, Happiness, as defined in the 18th. Century Scottish Enlightenment, was the pursuit of wisdom and virtue, in order to live a good life as a child of God.

The founders, based on their Christian beliefs, held that Government should support morality and virtue grounded in the laws of nature and of nature's God. Our Government ought not to be hostile to the Christian faith and enact laws unfriendly to it, but to encourage its flourishing. This was not the creation of a Christian theocracy nor a nod to a secular state. The First Amendment of our Constitution prohibits the establishment of a national religion, or preference of one religion over another, or any religion over non-religion. Article VI bars any religious test as a qualification for holding any federal office. It is a balance for religious neutrality for governing purposes.

I will leave you with a portion of George Washington's farewell speech to the nation in which he embraces faith and morality as pillars of society and a warning not to do away with them. His address is quite prophetic as to what we see happening in today's divisive political climate.

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle." -George Washington

I ask you. Where is the security for reputation, when we misuse the levers of power in the government to "legally" attack political enemies? Where is the security for life, when we allow the deaths of innocent human beings residing in the womb, by statute? Where is the security for Justice, when we pervert oath's to uphold and protect the constitution, and we allow an unmitigated deluge of immigrants to enter our country threatening our sovereignty? These are all being perpetrated on us by "the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure." This is the post-modern worldview held by elites that have taken an axe to the roots of Western Civilization and our Republic. Benjamin Franklin foresaw the future struggles for America ahead of us, when he was asked after the Constitutional Convention, "what kind of Government do we have?" He answered,"A Republic if we can keep it." So on this 250th. anniversary of the signing of The Declaration of Independence, let us pledge "our lives and our fortunes" to keep it that way!

Below are a couple of Patriotic Songs I love. The first is Chester, written and sung during the war. Second, is Ray Charles rendition of America the Beautiful and finally The Battle Hymn of the Republic as only Johnny Cash can narrate and sing it. Goose bumps and chills guaranteed or maybe you have the hunta virus.

Chester- Revolutionary War Song

America The Beautiful

Battle Hymn of The Republic- Johnny Cash

Posted by Arthur C. Flickinger

5/20/26

in History