Inherit the Wind Worth Remembering on Anniversary
November 16th, 2009Is Evolution A Matter of Opinion?
This is one of the key scenes from the movie “Inherit the Wind” about the so-called “Scopes Money Trial” in Dayton, Tennessee. A teacher was accused of the “crime” of teaching evolution to his class, as we wrote about on our trip to Dayton back in March to highlight Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his revolutionary book, On the Origin of Species.
Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species Turns 150
These are the comments made by the authors of the play, according to a Facebook friend who linked to this YouTube page:
“Inherit the Wind is not history. The events which took place in Dayton, Tennessee, during the scorching July of 1925 are clearly the genesis of this play. It has, however, an exodus entirely of its own.
“The collision of Bryan and Darrow at Dayton was dramatic, but it was not a drama. Moreover, the issues of their conflict have acquired new dimension and meaning in the 30 years since they clashed at the Rhea County Courthouse. So Inherit the Wind does not pretend to be journalism. It is theater. It is not 1925. The stage directions set the time as “Not too long ago.” It might have been yesterday. It could be tomorrow.”
– Lawrence and Lee 1955
The Facebook post was inspired by the comments of a so-called “Bible thumper” who said anyone who “believes” in evolution might be a serial killer. Anyone who “believes” that is a moron, especially since most serial killers we find out are religious nuts.
As I pointed out, one of the problems in our society today, with the partisan split that defines us politically, is that too many people “believe” that everything is a matter of opinion.
Philosophy 101: There are matters of opinion, and then there are matters of fact.
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution gives everyone the right to “believe” in Jesus as a matter of opinion, but after more than 100 years of scientific research, there is no doubt that evolution by natural selection is a matter of fact. Believe it. Or not…
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Tags: Charles Darwin, Clarence Darrow, Dayton Tennessee, Inherit the Wind, On the Origin of Species, William Jennings Bryan
November 16th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Glynn is right to point out that everything is not, in fact, a matter of opinion, that there are discoverable scientific realities that do not depend on human belief.
The conflict with scientific reality in a democratic system with a large public educational system is readily apparent: if the majority of voters in a state or district elect school boards full of fundamentalists who do not “believe” in evolution — never mind that it’s been proven over and over again — you get stuff like the Scopes monkey trial.
The French Revolution was the first major instance of attempts to refashion reality through voting. Since then we have had hundreds of instances of that, including local and state school boards and legislatures who want to legislate evolution into a “theory” and deny actual proof that can be seen and touched.
The pure democrat would retort that this is the risk one takes with a democratic system. The more “centralized” democrat would say give curriculum control to the experts, the libertarian would say, let’s have a wide range of choices, public and independent, so evolutionary apostates can send their kids to schools where they call Darwin a theorist, and the rest of us can educate our kids.
The last option sounds far better to me.