The Scopes Trial by Stephen White
October 24, 2019
Date/Time
Date(s) - 24/10/2019
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Location
Online
Categories
Arguably one of the most important trials in the 20th Century took place in a small Tennessee town during eight hot, summer days in July 1925. To quote Wikipedia, “The Scopes Trial, formally known as The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes and commonly referred to as the Scopes Monkey Trial, was an American legal case in July 1925 in which a substitute high school teacher, John T. Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee’s Butler Act, which had made it unlawful to teach human evolution in any state-funded school”. This trial set the educational and scientific beliefs of millions in the western world ever since and matches the impact of other court cases such as Rowe vs Wade held in the much more august US Supreme Court decades later.
Much of what is commonly known of this trial comes from the play, movie and TV productions of Inherit the Wind, yet the playwrights introduction to the original play specifically states that it is not meant to be a historical account, and many events were substantially altered or invented. So what did occur at the actual trial way back in 1925, what were the motives behind it and what was its outcome? Stephen White will present an outline of the Scopes trial.
Steve White
Stephen White has had a career as a physicist in the defence industry in South Australia and is now retired, but, more importantly, he has been a very supportive member of the Reasonable Faith Adelaide committee for a number of years. God bless him.
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