Religion

Religion 100: Changing the world

In the Scopes trial of 1925, John Scopes, who was a substitute teacher for Biology, was caught violating the Butler Act, which was an act that didn't allow the teaching of evolution in Tennessee schools (pg 7 Bryan). William Jennings Bryan was a man who believed in the idea that it took God a whole six days to create the world that we live on, “I think it would be just as easy for the kind of God we believe in to make the earth in six days…”(changing the world powerpoint). He was constantly criticizing the idea of evolution and the teachings of Darwin and he was willing to fight against anyone who thought that they could question him and his beliefs.

Darwin argued that the view of independent creation of each distinct species by direct causation was out of step with the laws discerned through observation of nature (pg 3 Darwin). Bryan recognizes and understands Darwin’s outlook on religion, but does not agree with it and looks to completely shut it down. Bryan acknowledges Darwin and his teary of evolution, but counter argues it with an excerpt from the Bible, “These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth, when they were created in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens” (4th verse of 2nd chapter, pg 8). He is arguing that evolution is not a thing and that in the Bible it states that in the six whole days God created everything on earth and in the heavens.

While being questioned by Darrow, Bryan is defending himself the best he can, but later on in the hearing he starts to second guess his answers by answering with things such as “I think” and “That is my opinion”. You can tell he begins to feel uncertain on whether the six whole days was really a twenty four hour day or not and whether the world is as old as he thinks it is, “Do you thin those where literal days? - Darrow. My impression is they were periods, but I would not attempt to argue as against anybody who wanted to believe in literal...