The Scopes Monkey Trial and COVID-19

June 10th is the anniversary of the famous trial, Tennessee vs. John Thomas Scopes.  It put the small town of Dayton, Tennessee on the map and gave us a great play and movie, Inherit the Wind.  Setting that aside, there was plenty of theatrics in the trial itself. 

            In March of 1925 the state of Tennessee had passed the “Butler” act (no relation as far as I can tell or that my husband will attest to) which outlawed the teaching of evolution.  The only story of creation allowed in the God-fearin’ state of Tennessee was what came out of the King James Bible.  The Tennessee legislature did not make any allowance for the fact that the original text of the Bible was in ancient Greek and Aramaic and may or may not have been faithfully rendered into English. 

            John Scopes, a substitute science teacher, was recruited by a local businessman, George Rappalyea, to challenge the law.  Scopes later admitted that he couldn’t remember if he ever taught any evolution or not, but the trial had to have a defendant.  What was essentially a purposeful publicity stunt succeeded beyond expectations.  The prosecution enlisted three-times defeated Presidential candidate, William Jennings Bryan (whose elocutionary bombast makes Donald Trump look like starter dough), while the ACLU got Clarence Darrow to defend Scopes.  The press outnumbered the residents of the town.  In the end, Judge Raulston ordered the trial moved outdoors because he feared the weight of the gathered humanity in the old Rhea County Courthouse would collapse the floor!

            The defense tried to put the law on trial.  The judge insisted it was the defendant who was on trial and a judgement of guilty with a nominal fine was handed down.  Since the breaking of the law was only a misdemeanor, this was never a case of life or death.  It was much more important than that. 

            Evolution is a fact. 

I am a practicing Lutheran who knows that God created me and all that exists.  I am also an educated person who knows that evolution has occurred on this planet in both macro and microforms.  I also know that the entire universe was probably created almost instantaneously from an incredibly small amount of intensely dense matter in what is frequently referred to as the “Big Bang.”  There is absolutely no conflict between my religious beliefs and my scientific understanding.  This lack of conflict exists in the use of the words “believe” and “know.” 

Religion is faith based, that is, it is belief in the absence of proof.  To require proof of a religious belief means that you don’t have enough faith to sustain what you profess to be true.  Science, on the other hand, is based on inquiry, empirical evidence, and self-correction.  That which strengthens science—evidence—cheapens faith.  Likewise, what strengthens faith—belief without evidence—discredits science.  The two are mutually exclusive.  There is no conflict.

Evolution is the heart of our biological sciences as well as geology and cosmology.  If you don’t understand evolution you don’t understand how COVID-19 is an evolutionary version of SARS, MERS and other corona-type viruses.  This one has emerged as the leader of its type because it is more contagious.  That means it survives longer and has lots of little baby viruses that look just like it.  If you don’t understand the scientific process you can fall prey to irrational, gullible or false thinking.  These are the people who confuse a google search with a medical degree and don’t vaccinate their children!

Science is the study of the physical nature of our existence.  Evolution is an essential part of science.  Both should be taught aggressively in the schools and put to work in our commerce and industry.  Good science must never be based on faith, and real faith can never be threatened by good science. 

Cognito ergo sum.  I also keep the faith.

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