William Shakespeare’s The Merchant Of Venice said, “The Devil can cite Scripture for his purposes.” As the quote from the devil shows, the Scopes Trial was a war for control over American society. Fundamentalism was the preferred weapon. People were worried about their religious and moral standing at that time. Scopes’ religious-backed persecution was not carried out by untrained or inexperienced people. They were simply opportunistic and saw an opportunity to exploit cultural chaos. Politicians today make use of geocultural, socioeconomic, and other social dichotomies in order to support progressive or fundamentalist causes. American society is a complex and volatile mix of many cultures. It is dynamic and always in flux. As people try to find the right answer for a particular issue, they are often separated by societal borders that result from this tug-of war.
The Scopes Trial as well as the Butler Act were either ploys or biased agendas that were used to benefit individuals. However, they were only the culmination in a power struggle for control of American values. Some view the Butler Act as an attack on science. It denounced any theory that would deny the Biblical story of God’s creation of man and instead taught that man descends from lower animals. Johns Washington Butler (the author of the Butler Act), was a well-off tobacco farmer who claimed he read the Origin of Species. As a way to keep his favor with the overwhelming majority of voters, he opposed evolution being taught in public schools. Scopes Trial itself was used by the media to test the media’s ability for modernists and fundamentalists to clash. John Scopes was represented by William Jennings Bryan. Bryan was a fundamentalist and led a systematic crusade to stop evolution education being taught in American schools. He wanted to preserve the traditional values he had supported for a long time and to keep his political career in the forefront (“An Introduction”) Bryan was both fundamentalist as well as opportunistic in his participation in the trial. John Scopes, the ACLU’s guilty party for modernist causes, was initially reluctant to have Clarence Darrow in the defense. They feared that Darrow’s overzealous faith would lead to an attack upon religion that they were trying to avoid (“An Introduction”)). Because Darrow’s trial was not about attacking religion, science, or politics, the ACLU tried to avoid any offensive arguments. Flannery O’Connor, a Catholic who was born and raised in America, created the story about Hazel Motes to warn people who believe they can escape the Christian-born values and traditions of America. O’Connor first presents Hazel as a control freak who can get away with rejecting God’s light. She then slowly destroys him to punish him for his defiance of Christian teachings. Even in the name Hazel Motes’s, O’Connor makes Hazel imperceivable and unable to see. O’Connor described Hazel’s expression as “opening onto a deeper blackness” (162) and as someone who was almost invisible for whom “The porter wouldn’t stop” (11). O’Connor made Hazel obsessive about materialism. To punish him, she removes the symbol of O’Connor’s power and emergent religion, his essex. She instills in Hazel the belief that redemption is inevitable. Another example of trying to control an American population that has strayed from Christian traditions is the novel.
The passing of the Butler Act in 2008 and the Scopes Trial today can show us many of these cunning phenomena. Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign did not include any support for gay equality.
Obama was actually candid in a preelection interview. He described marriage as the union of a man with a woman and said that while he didn’t want to endorse same-sex marriage, “[he] just concluded, for [him] personally, that it is important to go ahead to affirm that gay couples should be allowed to get married”(Weinger).
Critics would argue that Obama experienced a personal shift in his views as he was elected. We are likely to see Obama using the gay rights agenda, just like other presidents and many more to come, in his two elections. He adopted wildly different positions to keep up with the pull of the majority vote. He tried to get support from Republicans on the Republican side of the election. The second election saw him focusing on the democratic vote and his Hail Mary by jumping on to the progressive platform. Obama is just one example in a long line of politicians and prominent figures who hide their personal values in an effort to appeal to the majority. They instead choose to align themselves along the lines of liberal and conservative, hoping that they will win. It is unlikely that politicians are concerned about morality. What is more important is the election for office.
Scopes is a major and ongoing division. It represents the long-established cultural regionalism between urban and rural, as well as some North and South. Urban America was evolving in the 1920s. The majority of this development occurred in the North, rather than the south. Many immigrants arrived in America, changing the demographics rapidly. The urban-rural divide was further enhanced by technology. People living in cities had access to electricity, running waters, radios, televisions, and movies theaters. As lifestyle changed, so did values. Urban America became a center for innovation, cultural festivity, intellectual experimentation, and a haven for jazz and flappers. It was able to abandon the traditional values that dominated the country. Scopes Trial was however held in a rural section of Tennessee. The Butler Act, which banned evolution teachings, was designed to preserve traditional religious ideas and counter the growing influence of modernist science-based religions. This law was an aspect of fundamentalist efforts to preserve the supremacy and control of American values.
Scopes Trial was a demonstration of the differences between urban and rural America. The trial was covered by radio and urban newspaper reporters who flocked from all over the country to Dayton. H.L. was one of the most prominent. Mencken depicted the prosecution as narrow-minded and backward, and especially H.L. Mencken described Bryan as a “pathetic man” with “a cruel mouth closed tightly”. “Introduction”: The modernists were prominently supported by the media. The Scopes Trial was the turning point in the struggle between rural fundamentalist values and those of scientifically-inclined urban dwellers. It could have prevented similar laws from Tennessee being passed in other states.
America suffers from divisions. These include the social and political divides among the young and the older. Many Americans see this as a good thing, since it is a combination of many cultures. Despite this sentiment, it can also cause societal and cultural chaos. This was the result of America’s First World War. It fueled a morally anxious youth and increased their restlessness. These two factors led to a cultural revolution that saw a complete abandonment of Victorian-era values and a massive shift in culture. Instead, they were used for intellectual experimentation or stimulation.
Introduction to the Topic Many older generations were shocked to see their values and traditions being swept away by the young, reckless and morally ambiguous generation of the ’20s. The younger generation accepted jazz music and flapper culture while the older generations sat in horror at their crumbling institutions (“An introduction”).
Today we can still see the divisions between young and old, often with a religious argument. One of the central arguments for gay marriage opposition is Leviticus 20, where the Bible states, “If a person also lies with another man, as he lies with a woman,” and that they will both be executed. Their blood will be upon them. Many who refer to scripture in opposition to gay marriage are older people who were raised in a religious environment and who have been pious. The younger generation is more open to gay marriage than their predecessors, and they are more aware of religious influences. Instead, they think outside of religious teachings and critically consider the idea that marriage should be restricted from both an emotional and biological standpoint. The pro- and anti-gay marriage sentiments can sometimes be confused and can be rooted in political agendas to culturally control people, rather than the morality involved.
A debate about abortion rights can also be based on religious beliefs of life’s holyness. This means that the destruction and/or killing of conceived human lives is an attack against God’s work. The younger generation of adults, however, argue that fetuses can be considered a mass of cells and therefore abortion should only be performed by the woman. Both these issues do not cover the full range of differences between the Christian-educated and scientifically curious creationists, evolutionists, and the older, younger generations. With the lack of a sense of national identity and the oscillating periods of war and peace, there has been a strong determination among the ages.
The Monkey Scopes Trial was all about controlling the battle between modernism and fundamentalism. The trial was mostly successful. Modernists received a lot of support from reporters and newscasters, while rural fundamentalists were ridiculed and made look stupid. The Scopes Trial was not the only event. Politicians are known for using alignment and views to manipulate voters. The division between urban and rural is no different. Many of these issues still exist today. Three wise monkeys ran the Monkey Scopes. They were the press and defense. These monkeys competed to control American sentiment in the midst of chaos and carnivalesque culture during the 20’s.
