Miss USA versus the Scopes — proof of evolution?
It was a hot summer in Dayton, Tenn., almost 86 years ago.
John Scopes, a 24-year-old science teacher and football coach, was to be tried for daring to teach evolution — banned at the time under Tennessee law. The famed lawyer Clarence Darrow came to his defense; the former presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan opposed him.
Crowds gathered for the trial like flies flocking to fresh meat. The press was buzzing. H. L. Mencken even showed up, producing a series of scathing tirades.
We tend to look back on this trial and grimace. Put a man on trial for teaching science? And convict him? How mortifying!
But this week, the Miss USA contestants were asked whether evolution should be taught in schools. And by and large, the answers were horrifying….”
“Perhaps if the relationship between religion and science remains so fraught, it’s because we don’t know our history. It has been a forgetful 86 years since that Tennessee summer. It has been even longer since Galileo decided that his allegiance to fact trumped his obligation to offend no one…”
“t might be offensive to people to teach evolution? Maybe it’s offensive to other people to teach special relativity, because it implies that regular relativity is not good enough. But both of them have proved handy tools for explaining the world. That’s what science is supposed to do, explain the world. It will not tell you why the world hates dodos and what it was that happened to it in its youth to make it yell incoherent things at passersby. That is religion’s job.
“We once understood that…”
H.L. Mencken's Account
"THE MONKEY TRIAL": |
Cassi Creek: Things have not changed all that much. Not only has Tennessee preserved its students from the realities of acquiring scientific knowledge; so, it seems, has the rest of the nation.
I listened to the 50 contestants wrestle with the possibility that evolution might be taught to schoolchildren. Then I called up Mencken’s account of the trial. Mencken would have felt quite at home in today’s culture. It is plain to see that there has been no further evolution in the genus Homo sapiens, sapiens. The young women, obviously prime material in the process of selection for species continuation, are examples of regression rather than evolution.
Of course, they don’t understand that Darwin’s “theory” is in this usage, proven fact by scientific method. “Theory” does not equate with unsubstantiated and non-provable religious dogma. In parallel with Unified field theory, Einstein’s theory of relativity, and many other solidly proven tenets of science, evolution is reproducible observation made solid. Even Engineering’s WAG is based upon observation, calculation, and repetition.
Our educator and legislators wail about falling math and science test scores when our students are measured against Asian and European students. When we, as a society approve of teaching fairy tales as if they are true, when we equate science with religion; it is easy to see why our students are lacking.
Here’s the deal, folks. If you get annoyed that all our jobs are being offshore, that we’re hiring foreign borne and trained engineers and scientists for the few remaining jobs, If you want to talk to an American when you call a help-line for your electronics; it’s simple. Quit teaching self-esteem. Quit funding football instead of textbooks. Make math and science required for graduation. If your kids can’t pass it and can’t graduate, they aren’t college material anyway. And most important of all, religion is not science and does not belong in public schools under any guise.
Today is our 18th anniversary. I couldn’t be happier with the way things have turned out since we met. I’m looking forward to the next 18 years.
Dinner tonight: bone-in Cowboy-cut rib eye steaks from Earth Fare. They were $5.00 each with a coupon. Each is well over a pound and an inch thick. They’ll go onto the grill along with fresh corn on the cob.
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