Editing Clarence Darrow (section)

====Scopes Trial====

[[File:Clarence S Darrow.jpg|thumb|right|Clarence Darrow {{Circa|1925}}]]

In 1925, Darrow defended [[John T. Scopes]] in the ''[[Scopes Trial|State of Tennessee v. Scopes]]'' trial. It has often been called the "Scopes Monkey Trial," a title popularized by author and journalist [[H. L. Mencken]]. The trial, which was deliberately staged to bring publicity to the issue at hand, pitted Darrow against [[William Jennings Bryan]] in a court case that tested Tennessee's [[Butler Act]], which had been passed on March 21, 1925. The act forbade the teaching of "the [[evolution|Evolution Theory]]" in any state-funded educational establishment. More broadly, it outlawed in state-funded schools (including universities) the teaching of "any theory that denies the story of the [[creationism|Divine Creation]] of man as taught in the [[Bible]], and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scopes/tennstat.htm|title = Tennessee Anti-evolution Statute - UMKC School of Law}}</ref>

During the trial, Darrow requested that Bryan be called to the stand as an expert witness on the [[Bible]]. Over the other prosecutor's objection, Bryan agreed. Popular media{{citation needed|date=August 2018}} at the time portrayed the following exchange as the deciding factor that turned public opinion against Bryan in the trial:

<blockquote>
:Darrow: "You have given considerable study to the Bible, haven't you, Mr. Bryan?"
:Bryan: "Yes, sir; I have tried to.... But, of course, I have studied it more as I have become older than when I was a boy."
:Darrow: "Do you claim then that everything in the Bible should be literally interpreted?"
:Bryan: "I believe that everything in the Bible should be accepted as it is given there; some of the Bible is given illustratively. For instance: 'Ye are the salt of the earth.' I would not insist that man was actually salt, or that he had flesh of salt, but it is used in the sense of salt as saving God's people."
</blockquote>

<!--  Commented out: [[Image:scopes trial.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Clarence Darrow and [[William Jennings Bryan]] chat in court during the Scopes Trial.{{Deletable image-caption|date=March 2012}}]] -->
After about two hours, Judge [[John T. Raulston]] cut the questioning short and on the following morning ordered that the whole session (which in any case the jury had not witnessed) be expunged from the record, ruling that the testimony had no bearing on whether Scopes was guilty of teaching evolution. Scopes was found guilty and ordered to pay the minimum fine of $100.<ref>See Tenn. Const. art. VI, s. 14; see also, Scopes v. State, 154 Tenn. 105, 289 S.W. 363 (1926)</ref>

A year later, the [[Tennessee Supreme Court]] reversed the decision of the Dayton court on a procedural technicality — not on constitutional grounds, as Darrow had hoped. According to the court, the fine should have been set by the jury, not Raulston. Rather than send the case back for further action, however, the [[Tennessee Supreme Court]] dismissed the case. The court commented, "Nothing is to be gained by prolonging the life of this bizarre case."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://teva.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/scopes/id/157|title=Tennessee Supreme Court - Scopes Trial - Page 1}}</ref>

The event led to a change in public sentiment and an increased discourse on the creation claims of religious teachers versus those of secular scientists {{mdash}} i.e., [[creationism]] compared to [[evolutionism]] {{mdash}} that still exists. It also became popularized in a play based loosely on the trial, ''[[Inherit the Wind (play)|Inherit the Wind]]'', which has been adapted several times on film and television.<ref name=1960Film>{{AFI film|53192}}</ref><ref name=1988Film>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/18/arts/tv-weekend-inherit-the-wind-and-hot-paint.html |title=TV Weekend; 'Inherit the Wind' and 'Hot Paint' |first=John J. |last=O’Connor |date=March 18, 1988 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=February 18, 2022|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name=1999Film>{{cite web |url=http://geoffgould.net/990330_inheritthewind.htm |title=Geoffrey Gould reports from the set of ''Inherit the Wind'' |website=jeffgould.net |access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref>