The Constitution, Censorship and the Schools: Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes
Peter Neal Herndon
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Give FeedbackV. Day Five: July 16 (Thursday)
After prayer, the question before the court was this: whether to
uphold the state's motion to exclude all scientific experts testimony
on the truth or the falsity of evolution. W. J. Bryan, Jr., made the
point that expert testimony would be only opinion, not fact.
According to the state, since Scopes had taught that man had
descended from a lower order of animals, he had denied the Bible's
account of Creation. After lunch, William Jennings Bryan made his
first speech. For an hour he warned of the evils of evolution and the
truth of the Bible. And what of the children?
BRYAN: Why, my friends, if they believe it, they go back to scoff at
the religion of their parents: And the parents have a right to say
that no teacher paid by their money shall rob their children of faith
in God and send them back to their homes, skeptical, infidels,
agnostics or atheists. (Grebstein, 127)
After a short recess, Malone made a long emotional speech to the
court, in which he made an impassioned appeal (1) to recognize the
Bible as a book on religion not science; (2) to realize there is no major
conflict between Bible creation and evolution; (3) conclude that the
truth could only be known if scientific testimony were allowed. On
this last point Malone pleaded: "Is our only weapon--the witnesses
who shall testify to the accuracy of our theory--Is our only weapon
to be taken from us, so that the duel will be entirely one-sided?"
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