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Scopes Monkey Trial

Definition

The Scopes Monkey Trial was a famous American legal case in 1925 where high school teacher John T. Scopes was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act which made it unlawful to teach human evolution in any state-funded school.

Analogy

Imagine if a science teacher today started teaching that the earth is flat, contrary to accepted scientific knowledge and against school policy. That's similar to what happened during the Scopes Monkey Trial - it was a clash between modern scientific theories and traditional beliefs.

Related terms

Butler Act: A 1925 Tennessee law prohibiting public school teachers from denying Biblical creationism or teaching instead that man evolved from other species.

Fundamentalism: A form of religion, especially Islam or Protestant Christianity, that upholds belief in the strict interpretation of scripture. It played a key role in promoting laws like the Butler Act.

The Great Awakening: Several periods of religious revival in American Christian history marked by widespread revivals led by evangelical ministers challenging established religious institutions. These movements increased adherence to fundamentalist values.