Scopes Monkey Trail Research Paper

First, was displaying the Ten Commandments in courthouses and public schools a violation of the First Amendment?s establishment clause that prevents the government from passing laws in favor of any religion (Chicago-Kent College of Law at Illinois Tech, 2004a)? Secondly, was an assumption that the purpose of these displays had been for promoting religion enough of a determination for prohibition (Chicago-Kent College of Law at Illinois Tech, 2004a)? With a dissenting opinion on the matter, Justice Scalia first tells how he was in Rome, Italy on September 11, 2001. The President of the United States gave an address to the nation, ending it with ?

Abington SD vs. Schempp This case concerns Bible reading in the public schools of Pennsylvania. When the students who attended arrived for school, they were required to read at least ten verses from the Bible. After that, they were required to recite the Lord’s Prayer. The only way to avoid these activities was written note from the parents. The United States Supreme Court favored Schempp and declared this Bible reading to be unconstitutional.

The issue in this case was whether school-sponsored nondenominational prayer in public schools violates the Establishment clause of the first amendment (Facts and Case Summary - Engel v. Vitale, n.d.). This case dealt with a New York state law that had required public schools to open each day with the Pledge of Allegiance and a nondenominational prayer in which the students recognized their dependence upon God (Facts and Case Summary - Engel v. Vitale, n.d.). This law had also allowed students to absent themselves from this activity if they found that it was objectionable. There was a parent that sued the school on behalf of their child. Their argument was that the law violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, as made applicable

“This man wishes to be accorded the same privilege as a sponge! He wishes to think!” (Lawrence & Lee, 1955, p. 94). This quote from Inherit the Wind represents the heart of the controversy known as the Scopes Trial in 1925. This historical court proceeding still affects us today, yet few know much about it.

Key point being the fact that America has no set religion therefore schools should not teach only evolution, or only creationism. Both should be taught, or neither should be taught. Schools cannot teach neither though because there is valuable knowledge in both. During the trial Scopes said “... violation of my ideal of academic freedom-that is, to teach the truth as guaranteed in our constitution of personal and religious freedom”(“Scopes”). John Scopes had a very eye opening point; stating that he can believe whatever he wants to believe in because he has those rights granted by the Constitution.

I am writing separately because I do not believe Florida’s sentencing scheme violates Hurst’s sixth amendment. I agree with the dissent that Apprendi and Ring should be overruled in favor of something more in line with Walton and our precedent prior to the new millennium. I concur in the judgment, however, because the jury’s role in Florida’s capital sentencing scheme is unconstitutional. Florida does not require unanimity or a feeling of responsibility by the jury in the death sentencing scheme. Also, Florida only requires a simple-majority vote to render its verdict instead of one that is unanimous.

The Scopes Trial John Scopes, a high school biology teacher, who found himself at the center of one of the 20th century’s most famous life-changing court hearings; The Scopes Trial. It was also known as the Monkey Trial, where biology teacher John Scopes was prosecuted for teaching evolution in a public school located in Tennessee (Kemper). Prior to the trial, there was a anti-evolution law that was passed making Scopes actions illegal, this was known as The Butler Act. As a matter of fact, when Scopes went against this law it was the first step in moving towards modernism. As well as, causing America to move away from traditional values.

Tennessee passed a fundamentalist law forbidding the teaching of anything but creationism, and the American Civil Liberties Union financed a test case to prove the unconstitutionality of the law through the famous “Monkey Trial”. The law was deemed constitutional, signifying the triumph of the religious fundamentalists over the science of the cities (Garraty

Since the publication of the text there has been a lot of controversy about whether or not students should read the text in middle school or high school.

The education system of this nation is biased. Evolution has been taught as Scientific fact for many years and creationism has been treated as just a religious belief and not worthy to be taught. Even though evolutionism is also a belief that has yet to be proven, it is taught as fact in every science class in America. The Supreme court has deemed that requiring educators to teach evolution and also teach creationism unconstitutional, but declaring that was merely a violation of equality and freedom of religion. (Epperson v. Arkansas) Creationism can’t be taught as a response to the theory of evolution, nor does creationism meet the faith of scientists.

This conflict was exemplified by the trial of John Scopes was a high school science teacher who was accused of violating Tennessee’s Butler Act, which prohibited the teaching of evolution in

Modern thinking was denied and when John Scopes brought up evolution no matter what his case was he had no chance, yet many places heard about the trial and tried to help by, one releasing an article exposing the true evil behind having church and school strangely mixed. In the article it says, “Religion and business had become strangely mixed.” (Doc D) New York Times, expressed that when rural school are blindly teaching kids one path then there will be no diversity in

”(80) Here Danforth, supports his view of a fundamentalist, in stating that those who challenge the court will be wrong, and with this he will disregard their views or possibly condemn them to death, which is the case in which we find Proctor, due to the idiotic challenge of the ‘all knowing’

Modernists, however, were liberal Protestants who wanted to make Christianity more relevant to contemporary life and stay current with values. The Scopes trial of 1925 (also referred to as the Tennessee Evolution Case), while demonstrating the religious tension of the era, illustrated the conflict between Protestant fundamentalism and modern science (Document C). The trial involved the arrest of John

Clarence Darrow came to defend scopes. he had a agnostic view on religion and believe evolution is a important to know about. on the state 's side was William Bryan and christian who believed the bible should be thought of in a literal sense and evolution was a dangerous and would lead to a social movement. Just by knowing this it should have been a mistrial based on the fact that the state attorney 's main argument was that it goes against the literal interpretation of the bible because it 's obviously mixing church and state. Just to show you how silly this argument is heres some quotes from the bible Leviticus 19:27 states: “Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard”.