This Week in Christian History: Pope Draws Imperial Borders; Methodists Ordain Women; Scopes Arrested

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Twitter

Scopes Arrested for Teaching Evolution - May 5, 1925

Tennessee educator John Scopes (1900-1970), the defendant in the famous Scopes Monkey Trial.
Tennessee educator John Scopes (1900-1970), the defendant in the famous Scopes Monkey Trial. | (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

This week marks the anniversary of when Tennessee teacher John Scopes was arrested under the charge of having violated the law by teaching the Theory of Evolution.

Although Scopes never actually taught evolution, he nevertheless claimed to have done so in order to give the American Civil Liberties Union a test case to challenge the state law.

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The highly publicized case began that July, with Clarence Darrow representing Scopes and famed Democrat politician William Jennings Bryan representing the prosecution.

While Scopes lost, the trial became a rallying cry for the teaching of evolution in public schools and eventual purging of Creationism from science curriculum.

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