Hot Air: The Myth of Inherit the Wind

Jonathan Witt has a nice post on the reality of the Scopes trial v. the myth that most people believe because of the play and movie Inherit the Wind. For those who would like to know more, Edward J. Larson has written a Pulitzer Prize winning book on the history of the trial, entitled Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate over Science and Religion. For those who may not have time for an entire book, there is this enlightening article by Carol Inannone.

Funny how it is the proponents of evolution who are the ones promoting a myth based on selective facts, and it is the challengers who are eager to dig deeper into the facts and understand the complexities. There is a similar approach to the facts relevant to the theory of evolution. Proponents try to argue that there are no valid scientific challenges to the theory-- only debates about the mechanisms. As a result, they seek to ban any questioning of the underlying theory from the public schools, and require that all thinking be done inside their rigid materialist box. They want to ignore the serious problems in reconciling the facts with the theory and dismiss such issues with an imperious “asked and answered” wave of the hand. The new challengers ask whether those “answers” are actually convincing, or even plausible, and are willing to question the underlying theory and explore all the possibilities.