After the Scopes Trial, there was a decline in fundamentalism and only two of fifteen states on the verge of passing anti-evolution laws in 1925 did so: Arkansas and Mississippi. Still, the trial’s verdict dampened the instruction of evolution in schools and did not reappear in textbooks till the 1960s.
Referencing teaching evolution in schools, 1925, Baltimore Sun
Anti-evolution law in Arkansas, 1925
The Scopes Trial sparked a national discussion that surpassed the borders of Tennessee, turning into one of the most prominent cases in America. It received superfluous press coverage, popularizing the ACLU, and was the first to be broadcasted on live radio, communicating Its events all over the country and setting the stage for future cases. As the country’s first legal battle over evolution, the trial was significant as it communicated crucial ideas that would resurface in evolution-related cases in later years, such as the Epperson v. Arkansas US Supreme Court Case.
"This was the very first trial in American history that was covered by the broadcast media. It was a live, play-by-play coverage by a radio station out of Chicago. So this was the precursor of Court TV so to speak."
~ Nadine Strossen
Radio blasting the trial all over the U.S., 1925, Chicago Tribune
WGN Radio recording the trial, 1925, PBS
"It [the trial] is, for better or for worse, emblematic of the creationism/evolution controversy. It showcased the enduring themes of creationist rhetoric and provided a template through which many continue to understand the controversy."
~ Glenn Branch
The point of the trial’s significance is not that it made evolution a welcomed idea to all of America but that it rather portrayed both sides of an argument that many people all over the country were passionate about. It gave the people a chance to stop, consider and participate in this controversial question. Was it going to be science or religion?
"The question was not solved — it will never be solved. Everyone in this world is involved, every living human being in the answer to that issue."
~ Eloise Reed
The debate: science versus religion.
Creationism versus evolution being taught in schools, 1960
The most remarkable part of the trial is that it incited communication to promote understanding and that communication never ceased. The debate between evolutionists and creationists persisted in different forms, from the anti-evolution crusade of the 1920s to the creation science movement of the 1960s and even in some states today, where people are arguing for creationism to be taught on the same pedestal as evolution. The issues the trial raised are the talk of today as they were in July 1925, and the Scopes Trial was the beginning of this conversation.
"The contest between evolution and Christianity is a duel to the death." ~ William Jennings Bryan