"Monkey Trial"

Oh, the sensation, the media frenzy,

The spotlight, the fame, the hullabaloo,

When anti-evolution laws

Were challenged by the ACLU!

 

The year: 1925.

The place: Dayton, Tennessee.

To say it was an extravaganza

Wouldn't be hyperbole.

 

For many people it was hard

To find a way to reconcile

Biblical accounts with science,

So science found itself on trial.

 

A young teacher, John T. Scopes,

Was willing to face prosecution

For breaking a Tennessee law for having

Given a lesson on evolution.

 

The "Monkey Trial" it was called.

The challenge meant swimming upstream

For the feisty lawyer Clarence Darrow,

Who helped to lead the defense team.

 

A prosecutor was William Jennings

Bryan, who with no apology

Loved to stir up outrage against

Evolutionary biology.

 

Defendant Scopes quickly found

It wouldn't take long for him to know

What it was like to have a part

In a multimedia reality show.

 

The courthouse received a make-over:

Platforms for newsreel cameras were built;

Extra spectator seats were added.

They were playing the trial to the hilt.

 

Concession stands sold food and drinks;

Toy monkeys were on display;

A chimp was dressed in a suit and fedora;

The clergy also joined the fray.

 

The media and the public loved it!

The country watched the trial progress.

What would win: science or scripture?

The answer was probably easy to guess.

 

After an eight-day trial, the jury

Deliberated. Nine minutes later

They had their verdict: guilty! How

Could someone question THEIR creator?

 

Scopes had actually never given

The lesson. That's what he later said.

Strangely, five days after the trial,

Williams Jennings Bryan dropped dead.

 

Laws later changed, but even during

Current times, some people feel

That stories from the Bible should be

In science textbooks. Now THAT'S surreal!

 

-by Bob B (11-6-18)

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[Quill]

perhaps there could be a confluence of both