Obfuscate the Truth
Janet Kuypers
7/10/19, the day in 1925 marking the beginning of the Scopes Trial in
Dayton, Tennessee of the so-called “Monkey Trial” of John T. Scopes,
the teacher accused of teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act
The most ludicrous thing
is when people try to legislate untruths
and expect everyone to just go along with them.
That man would obfuscate
race, gender, science and the truth —
“we hold these truths to be self-evident”, you all
boldly proclaim, but, do you?
What is your definition of truth, and at
what lengths will you go to, to obfuscate the truth?
—
The ACLU wanted to finance
a test case against the constitutionality
of the Butler Act, which became the Scopes Monkey Trial.
In an attempt to gain crucial
limelight to the injustices of deliberately
not teaching science to children, a team of businessmen
approached the substitute
teacher John Thomas Scopes, stating
that the Butler Act prohibited teaching human evolution,
but the state required all
teachers to use the assigned textbook
Hunter’s Civic Biology, which contained that evolution.
Scopes wasn’t sure he taught
evolution, but chose to be their defendant.
The defense fought gallantly, but their efforts didn’t matter
when the cards against reason
were so stacked in this house against them...
They lost this trial, and Scopes had to pay a $100 fine...
Scopes was even harassed
afterwards for years because of this,
while continuing schooling at the University of Chicago.
But the seed was planted,
and it would only take time before
ignorance would be overturned in the eyes of the law.
—
This trial set Modernists
against Fundamentalists, who said
the word of God as revealed in the Bible took priority
over all human knowledge.
This is where the debate began; and
this is where this tenuous debate will fight and flourish.
Do you believe in truth
through evidence, or do you believe
in a centuries-old book that the world accepts on faith.
And are our courts here
defending blind faith, or do they defend
people’s right to make their own choices for themselves.
Your choices in politics
are so directly interlinked with religion,
and with science, and with knowledge. So, choose wisely.
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