#scopes monkey trial

[citizenscreen]

Today in 1925, In Dayton, Tennessee, the ‘Scopes Monkey Trial’ begins with John Thomas Scopes, a high school science teacher, accused of teaching evolution in violation of a Tennessee state law. #otd

[benwalkerupdates]

ben in his broadway debut in 2007 for a revival of inherit the wind, in which he played bertram cates!

Two great lawyers argue the case for, and against, a Tennessee science teacher accused of the crime of teaching Darwin's theory of evolution.

(cates being the teacher who was arrested, of course. the play is based on the real-life case of The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes.)

[bruceandmary]

Apparently, today marks the 100th anniversary of the Scopes Monkey Trial. As such, here's "Part Man, Part Monkey" by Bruce Springsteen.

[thoughtlessarse]

With a massive ark and museum, he spreads creationism a century after Scopes trial. He’s not alone

The 1925 Scopes monkey trial famously put the spotlight on evolution and appeared to mark a defeat for biblical fundamentalism.

As the colossal replica of the biblical Noah’s Ark rises incongruously from the countryside of northern Kentucky, Ken Ham gives the presentation he’s often repeated. The ark stretches one and a half football fields long — “the biggest freestanding timber-frame structure in the world,” Ham says. It holds three massive decks with wooden cages, food-storage urns, life-size animal models and other exhibits. It’s all designed to argue that the biblical story was literally true — that an ancient Noah really could have built such a sophisticated ship. That Noah and a handful of family members really could have sustained thousands of animals for months, floating above a global flood that drowned everyone else in the wicked world. “That’s what we wanted to do through many of the exhibits, to show the feasibility of the ark,” says Ham, the organizer behind the Ark Encounter theme park and related attractions. And with that, he furthers his goal to assert the entire biblical Book of Genesis should be interpreted as written — that humans were created by God’s fiat on the sixth day of creation on an Earth that is only 6,000 years old. All this defies the overwhelming consensus of modern scientists — that the Earth developed over billions of years in “deep time” and that humans and other living things evolved over millions of years from earlier species. But Ham wants to succeed where he believes William Jennings Bryan failed. Bryan, a populist politician and fundamentalist champion, helped the prosecution in the famous Scopes Monkey Trial, which took place 100 years ago this July in Dayton, Tennessee. Bryan’s side won in court — gaining the conviction of public schoolteacher John Scopes for violating state law against teaching human evolution. But Bryan was widely seen as suffering a humiliating defeat in public opinion, with his sputtering attempts to explain the Bible’s spectacular miracles and enigmas.

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[crazy56u]

Happy Scopes Monkey Trial Day, I guess.

[imkeepinit]

From a speech given by Henry Drummond (Spencer Tracy) in the 1960 United Artists motion picture Inherit the Wind.

[i--needed--that]

Did someone say something? I was distracted by that vest. 😉 How am I supposed to get anything done around here?!? 😂 Gene Kelly, doing his best to distract us with his sexiness, in "Inherit The Wind" (1960). 💕

(Thanks, @eugene-my-love, for making that awesome first gif, and @genekellys, for the wonderful one at the bottom. 🤗)

[whattolearntoday]

A bit of July 21st history...

356 - Herostratus sets fire to the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus - one of the 7 Wonders of the World (pictured)

1542 - Pope Paul III begins inquisition against protestants

1853 - Central Park in NY is created when NY Legislature puts aside more than 750 acres of land on Manhattan Island

1861 - 1st major battle of US Civil War, Battle of Bull Run in Virginia; confederates won

1925 - John T Scopes was found guilty of teaching evolution in the “Scopes Monkey Trial” in Tennessee; he was fined $100

1970 - Aswan High Dam in Egypt is completed; enables human control of the flooding of the Nile

1987 - Guns N’ Roses debut album “Appetite For Destruction”  is released and becomes the best selling debut album of all time with more than 30 million copies sold