Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

Followup to Instapundit: Stuff you should know about the Scopes trial, fast

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He mentioned that everything most people think they know is probably wrong. That is true of almost everything to do with evolution these days, especially from the sources the traditional media would most likely turn to.

Here are nine eye-openers, two below:

6. The prosecution’s “Bible expert” believed in the day-age theory [= the “days of creation” in the Bible were vast eras] — During the trial William Jennings Bryan took the stand as an expert witness on the Bible. In response to Darrow’s relentless questions as to whether the six days of creation were twenty-four hour days, Bryan said “My impression is that they were periods.” (The next day the judge ruled that Bryan’s testimony be stricken from the record as evidence.)

7. Teaching evolution . . . and eugenics — The biology book that was used by Scopes was George William Hunter’s Civic Biology. Although a standard biology text, it included the author’s championing of eugenics and white supremacy, his contempt for people with disabilities, and his dislike of charity for the “inferior.”

8. The defense wanted to lose the case — As the trial neared an end, Darrow asked the jury to return a verdict of guilty in order that the case might be appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court. They complied and the judge handed down the $100 fine to Scopes. H.L. Mencken, whose coverage of the trial for The Baltimore Sun swayed public opinion against the anti-evolutionists, paid the fine for Scopes.

These eye-openers and many others are well-attested facts that don’t get the TV face powder.

See less face powder. Learn more fast.

Comments
TheMonkeyTrial.com is an excellent documented guide to the many profound differences between the reality of the Scopes trial and the fictional propaganda that is promoted by Inherit the Wind stereotypes. Stunningly, the fiction often turns reality on its head, such that people believe the opposite of what actually was the case.ericB
August 1, 2013
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Yup, and there is a lot more. (IIRC, also, BRYAN offered to pay the fine for Scopes.) gotta go. KFkairosfocus
August 1, 2013
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