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Creationism in the United States: III. the Ban on the Teaching Of Thirdin a Series Creationismin the United States III. TheBan on the Teachingof EvolutionReaches the U.S. SupremeCourt RandyMoore It will probablytake another case to clearup the matter.- ingly, it was in Arkansasthat the ban on the teaching Clarence Darrow, upon hearing that the Tennessee of evolution would be tested, and eventually SupremeCourt upheld Tennessee'sButler Law banning Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/60/9/650/10374/4450576.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 the teaching of evolution, 1927 overturned. The disgraceis not the law; the disgraceis that teachers shouldbetray the trust imposedon themby the taxpayers by violatingthe law.-William Jennings Bryan, 1925 Banning the Teaching of Evolutionin Arkansas Youdon't protect any of your individualliberties by lying down and going to sleep.-John Scopes, 1968 Efforts to pass an anti-evolution law in Arkansas This is the Bible, buddy.I intend to defendit.-Bruce began soon afterthe Scopes trial.As the fundamental- Bennett, Attorney General of Arkansas, 1966 ists' anti-evolution crusade began to lose steam else- JoHN Scopes'conviction in 1925 for teachinghu- where, Baptist preacher Ben M. Bogard traveled man evolution gave fundamentalists a victory, throughout Arkansas proclaiming the evils of evolu- just as William Jennings Bryan's death gave them tion. Spurredon by Bogard'sagitation and the legacy a martyr. Whereas some northern states quietly dis- of the Scopes trial, the first anti-evolution legislation posed of anti-evolution legislation after Scopes' con- in Arkansas was introduced on 12 January 1927 by viction,' Mississippi and Arkansas passed their own state Representative T.P. Atkins of Prairie County. anti-evolution laws. In states that had no anti-evolu- On the following day, RepresentativeR.L. Rotenberry tion laws, there often were local restrictions on the of Pulaski County submitted another anti-evolution teaching of evolution, as well as enough fundamental- bill. Bogard announced that he saw more promise ists to keep people "stirred up" (de Camp 1968, in Rotenberry'sbill, after which Atkins announced 1969). Despite predictions to the contrary,the ACLU that he would withdraw his bill (Kazan 1966c;Anti- could find no one in Tennessee willing to challenge evolution in Arkansas,1966). Supporters of Rotenber- the Butler Law for which Scopes was convicted ry's bill called for a roll-call vote (representatives (Scopes goes free, but law is upheld, 1927; Will ask did not want to go on record as blocking a bill that court to rehear case, 1927). Although none of the would keep the Bible in classrooms;see Kazan 1966c), anti-evolution laws was challenged for decades, the after which the bill was referredto the House Educa- Scopes trial (which inspired Inherit the Wind; see tion Committee.2At the Committee's first hearing Moore 1998a)remained an emotional topic. For exam- about the bill on 28 January 1927, Bogard pleaded ple, the Arkansas Gazettesaid in an editorial that "For with legislators(Kazan 1966c; Antievolution in Arkan- trial has been a the state of Tennessee, the Scopes sas, 1966): moral disaster" (as quoted in Kazan 1966c).Interest- I ask in the nameof God,don't teachmy boy or my girl anythingcontrary to the Christianreligion and makeme 'Forexample, an anti-evolutionbill in Rhode Island was referred pay for it ... I warn you politiciansthat yourfolks back to the Committee on Fish & Game, where it died quietly. In homeare going to hold you accountablefor your vote on Delaware,an anti-evolutionbill had a similar fate after being sent this thing. to the Committee on Fish, Game, and Oysters (de Camp 1969; also see Moore 1998b). 2Rotenberry'sbill made it a misdemeanor to teach that "man Randy Moore is Professor of Biology and Dean of the College ascended or descended from any lower order of animals." Like of Arts & Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY40292; Tennessee's Butler Law, Rotenberry'sbill did not prohibit the e-mail: [email protected]. teaching of evolution; rather, it banned only the teaching of humanevolution. 650 THEAMERICAN BIOLOGY TEACHER, VOLUME 60, NO. 9, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER1998 The EvolutionCommittee of the BaptistState Conven- coverage on the next day to a story about nine tion also spoke out, warning representatives that: violent deaths in Chicago (Kazan 1966c). Everycounty in the state will be organizedto defeatthose Bogard, with the help of the Southern Baptists, whofail to supportthe [anti-evolution]bill.3 began a petition drive to get an initiated act on the ballot of the 1928 general election (Larson1989). The Only four of the 13 members of the House Education following advertisement was typical of the public Committee attended a subsequent hearing about appeals used to convince voters to endorse the Arkan- Rotenberry'sbill on 2 February1927. At that meeting, sas law (Irons 1988; also see Arkansas Gazette, Little Rotenberryread from Biologyfor Beginners (a textbook Rock, Nov. 4, 1928, p. 12, cols. 4-5): used in many Arkansas high schools; Moon 1921) and labeled the information "poisonous stuff."4The The Bibleor Atheism,Which? All atheistsfavor evolution. If you agreewith atheismvote againstAct No. 1. If you next day, the committee-by a 5-2 vote-returned agreewith the Biblevote for Act No. 1 . Shallconscien- the bill to the House with a recommendation that tious churchmembers be forced to pay taxes to support the bill be rejected.Bogard again reminded legislators teachersto teachevolution which will underminethe faith that he would take the issue to the people and that: of their children?The Gazettesaid Russian Bolsheviks laughedat Tennessee.True, and that sort will laugh at We will defeatevery monk or monkeywho favors evolution. Arkansas.Who cares?Vote FOR ACT NO. 1.6 Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/60/9/650/10374/4450576.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 If that is a threat,make the most of it ... This all has beenbrought about by the JohnD. RockefellerFoundation, By June of 1928, Bogard filed petitions having more which has been controlledby skepticsand infidels and than 19,000 signatures with the Arkansas Secretary atheists. of State and the act was placed on the ballot. A few After a three-hour debate, the House voted 49-48 educators (e.g., Virgil Jones of the College of Arts against the bill. Two dissenting members then & Sciences at the University of Arkansas) described changed their vote to yes, and the bill passed 50- the bill as "a long step backward,"and Hay Watson 47. The bill was then sent to the Senate. Smith, a Presbyterianpreacher who opposed the bill, When the bill failed to pass the Senate, Bogard argued that adopting the bill would be equal to made good on his earlier threat by incorporating "going back to the Middle Ages." Nevertheless, the [and making himself president of] the AmericanAnti- legislation-an adaptationof Tennessee's Butler Law Evolution Association, an organizationthat was open and now referred to as Initiated Act No. 1 (or the to everyone except "Negros [sic], and persons of Rotenberry Act)-was passed by 63% (108,991 to Africandecent [sic], Atheists, Infidels,Agnostics, such 63,406) of the voters of Arkansas just three years persons as hold to the theory of Evolution, habitual after the Scopes trial. Initiated Act No. 1 (Arkansas drunkards,gamblers, profane swearers, despoilers of Statutes 80-1267, 1268), the only such law ever the domestic life of others, desecratorsof the Lord's approved by a popular vote, read as follows: Day, and those who would depreciatefeminine virtue 1. It shall be unlawfulfor any teacheror otherinstructor by vulgarly discussing relationships"(de Camp 1969; in any University,College, Normal, Public School,or Antievolution in Arkansas,1966; McLester 1966).5 An other institutionof the State, which is supportedin whole or partfrom publicfunds derivedby State and article in the Chicago Tribune ridiculing Arkansas localtaxation to teachthe theory or doctrinethat mankind as "being more primitive than the Tennesseans" ascendedor descendedfrom a lower orderof animals prompted the Arkansas Gazette to give front-page and also it shall be unlawfulfor any teacher,textbook commission,or otherauthority exercising the powerto select textbooksfor abovementioned education institu- tions to adoptor use at any such institutiona textbook 3TheHouse passed a resolution condemning this action by the that teaches the doctrine or theory that mankind Baptist State Convention,but only by a 43-34 vote (Kazan1966c). 4Biologyfor Beginners(Moon 1921) was the last of the evolution descendedor ascendedfrom a lowerorder of animals books in the 1920s (following the Scopes verdict in 1925,evolution 2. Any teacheror otherinstructor or textbookor commis- had been deleted from other biology textbooks;see Moore 1998c). sioner who is found guilty of violationof this act by Moon's book included several thorough chaptersabout evolution, teachingthe theoryor doctrinementioned in Section1 and its frontispiecewas a picture of Darwin. In the preface,Moon hereof,'or by using or adoptingany such textbooksin stated that evolution was the fundamental unifying theme of any such educationalinstitution shall be guilty of a biology. In the 1926 edition, the picture of Darwin had been misdemeanorand uponconviction shall vacatethe posi- replaced by a cartoon of the digestive system, and the statement tion thus held in any educationalinstitutions of the that biology was based on the "fundamentalidea of evolution" characterabove mentioned or any commissionof which was replaced by the claim that biology was based on the "funda- a mental idea of development." A variety of religious quotations he may be member. were added to the chapters about evolution (see Grabiner & Miller 1974). Soon after passage of Initiated Act No. 1, J.H. Reyn- 5When a prominent atheist (Charles Smith, president of the olds (President of Hendrix College) predicted that American Association for the Advancement of Atheism) came to Little Rock to protest the anti7evolutionlegislation, he was jailed for 26 days.
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