scopes essay essays

scopes essay essays In the book Summer for the Gods by Edward J. Larson, the ideas of evolution and if it should be taught in the schools are at question. The book talks about the so-called Monkey Trial that took place in Dayton, Tennessee in 1925. The whole debate of whether evolution should be taught in schools was in question and school -teacher John Scopes was on trial for teaching his students about evolution. The Scopes Trial was extremely controversial for its time. The whole theory of evolution was just coming into play and many schools had it as a topic of discussion for their science classes. Evolution in general was still not set in stone but many scientists did support the theory and thought it was safe to teach in public school. John Scopes was one such teacher, he thought he would go along with what many had begun to do. It was a very simple topic to many but extremely sensitive to those who were very religious. Evolution went against the notion that god created man. So this is why the trial turned into such a national topic cause the outcome would change the face of how evolution was taught for many years to come. The trial had many key people and players. One such group that took a major stance for the defense was the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). It was one of the first test cases that the ACLU took part in. The ACLU was known for helping people whose civil rights were in jeopardy. They had Clarence Darrow come down to Tennessee to defend John Scopes. The American Civil Liberties goal during that summer was to make sure and fight for the separation of church and state. Religion should not be a factor when it comes to school issues. Religion was a very separate issue and the defense was going to show that. They also argued that freedom of speech was being violated, Scopes had the right to say as he pleased and by put ...