The Constitution, Censorship and the Schools: Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes
Peter Neal Herndon
Your feedback is important to us!
After viewing our curriculum units, please take a few minutes to help us understand how the units, which were created by public school teachers, may be useful to others.
Give FeedbackIII. Day Three: July 14 (Tuesday)
After a third straight day of opening court with prayer, Darrow
opened another assault on the court, demanding that prayer be
removed from the courtroom, since the case pitted science against
religion and this might prove an undue influence on the jury. Judge
Raulston ruled that prayers would not unduly influence him or the
jury, so the prayers would continue.
Was it science versus religion? Academic freedom versus the right
of the state to standardize the curriculum? A simple matter of a
state law being violated by a high school science teacher? The judge
refused to rule on these matters until the next court session.
Everyone was getting impatient, especially the jury members, who
had been barred from the courtroom for two days. When, if ever,
would they be allowed to hear the arguments that would decide the
fate of John Scopes?
{{/pre>A HREF="#top">To top of this unit/a>PRE}}
{{HR size="1">A NAME="8"}}