🧪 The Scopes Trial Never Ended

A 1925 courtroom drama about evolution set the stage for today’s war over truth, education, and control.

They’re not just banning books—they’re banning questions. And they’re replacing public schools with something far more dangerous.

Nearly a century after the Scopes Trial, the battle over what we can teach—and what we can question—still rages. Only now, the stakes are broader, the tactics more sophisticated, and the consequences more far-reaching.

What Was the Scopes Trial About

It was a highly publicized court case about teaching evolution in public schools—specifically whether it was legal for a teacher to teach Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, which contradicted the biblical account of creation.

At the time, Tennessee had passed a law called the Butler Act, which made it illegal to teach any theory that denied the biblical story of divine creation. John Scopes, a 24-year-old high school science teacher, was accused of violating this law by teaching evolution.

It became a symbolic showdown between science and religion, modernism and traditionalism, rural and urban values.

Two of the most famous men in America squared off:

• Clarence Darrow, a famous defense attorney and agnostic, defended Scopes.

• William Jennings Bryan, a three-time presidential candidate and Christian fundamentalist, prosecuted the case.

It was one of the first trials broadcast on the radio and captured national attention like a media circus. It inspired the play and film Inherit the Wind (1955/1960), which turned the Scopes Trial into a powerful fictional allegory for the McCarthy-era attacks on free thought. It is still cited in debates today over school curriculum, especially in states where “intelligent design” has been proposed as an alternative to evolution.**

(**Note: A Pennsylvania school board tried to require teachers to present Intelligent Design as an alternative to evolution. The court ruled in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District that ID in is not science, but a religious view, and teaching it violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The judge (a conservative appointed by a conservative president) wrote a strong rebuke, saying the board had tried to disguise creationism as science.

“The overwhelming evidence at trial established that Intelligent Design is a religious view, a mere re-labeling of creationism, and not a scientific theory.” —Judge John E. Jones III).

A Trial That Echoes Through Time

Nearly a century later, the same battle rages on. The names have changed. The targets have expanded. But the deeper question remains:

Can we allow young people to think for themselves—or must they be shaped, shielded, and controlled?

Darrow wasn’t just defending his client—he was defending the right to question, to reason, to learn. Bryan wasn’t just upholding a law—he was trying to preserve a worldview he felt slipping away.

And while Scopes was convicted, the trial exposed a fault line that never healed.

⸻

A Verdict Overturned—but Not the Law

Scopes was found guilty, of course. On July 21, 1925, the jury convicted him for teaching evolution, and the judge imposed a $100 fine.

But two years later, in 1927, the Tennessee Supreme Court overturned the verdict—not on principle, but on a technicality. The judge had set the fine, but state law required that any fine over $50 be decided by a jury. That was enough to void the conviction.

The justices upheld the law itself, calling it constitutional.

They called the case “bizarre” and urged the state to let it go—but the message was clear: the power to restrict what can be taught still stood.

And it did stand—for another 40 years. The Butler Act, which made it illegal to teach any theory that denied the biblical story of divine creation, wasn’t repealed until 1967, after another Tennessee teacher challenged it.

The lesson? They didn’t lose the battle. They just lost the moment. And the fight continues.

⸻

Same Script, New Cast

Today’s school controversies echo the same tensions—but with a broader cast of characters and a more calculated agenda.

Now the battleground includes:

• Evolution

• Slavery and systemic racism

• LGBTQ+ identities

• Climate change

• Sex education

• Even math books flagged as “woke”

Politicians pass laws that ban uncomfortable truths or force teachers to avoid entire topics. Books are pulled from shelves. Parents are pitted against teachers. Education becomes a culture war weapon.

But here’s what it really means: It’s not just about content. It’s about control.

⸻

Control by Another Name

For authoritarians, truth is dangerous. Facts are inconvenient. Independent thought is a threat.

So instead of banning free speech outright, they target the places where thought begins—schools.

This is where Trump and his allies come in. They aren’t driven by sincere religious conviction. Most of them aren’t even interested in education. What they want is power—and schools are a direct line to shaping future citizens. Or, more accurately, future followers. Through:

• Vouchers and “school choice” policies, which funnel tax money into private and religious schools

• Curriculum restrictions, which sanitize history and silence dissent

• Teacher intimidation, which pushes experienced educators out

• Defunding, which starves public schools and then blames them for struggling

They’re not trying to improve education. They’re trying to replace it with something more obedient.

⸻

Public Schools Are in the Crosshairs

What’s at risk isn’t just knowledge. It’s democracy itself.

Public schools were built on a simple, radical idea:

That every child, regardless of wealth, race, or religion, has the right to learn, think, and participate in a shared civic life.

That idea terrifies those who want to consolidate control. Because a thinking public is harder to manipulate.

So the strategy is clear:

1. Undermine trust in public education

2. Restrict what can be taught

3. Redirect funding to ideologically safe spaces

4. Rewrite history, science, and identity in the process

⸻

The Money Behind the Movement

This isn’t just about values—it’s also about profit and power. A network of billionaire-funded think tanks, foundations, and political operatives have turned public education into both a business opportunity and a political weapon.

They fund:

• Lawsuits to undermine public school funding

• Campaigns for school board takeovers

• Lobbying for vouchers and “education savings accounts”

• Charter school networks that profit with minimal oversight

They don’t just want to rewrite the curriculum—they want to own the classroom.

And once they do, they can decide what counts as truth, what gets omitted, and who gets left behind. The less public the system becomes, the less democratic it becomes—and the easier it is to control from above.

⸻

The Court That Cleared the Way

This war on public education isn’t happening in a vacuum—it’s been greenlit by the highest court in the land.

The Supreme Court has:

• Unleashed a flood of dark money into politics with Citizens United v. FEC (2010), empowering billionaires and PACs to shape school boards and education policy

• Weakened the separation of church and state, ruling that public funds can be used for religious schools in Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue (2020) and Carson v. Makin (2022)

• Favored private interests over public accountability, reinforcing the shift toward privatized, unregulated charter schools

This isn’t just a cultural battle—it’s been judicially sanctioned. And that makes it even harder to fight.

⸻

The Trial Never Ended—It Just Changed Forms

The Scopes Trial was the overture.

What followed was a long campaign to transform public education from a place of inquiry to a place of indoctrination—or eliminate it altogether.

And the actors keep returning:

• Legislators rewriting standards

• School boards banning books

• Presidential candidates pledging to “root out Marxism” from classrooms

• Wealthy donors funding charter networks with no transparency

The motives may be masked in “protecting children” or “restoring values.” But what they’re protecting is control.

⸻

Why This Fight Matters Now

This isn’t abstract. It’s happening across the country—in your state, your city, maybe your school district.

And the stakes aren’t just about textbooks. If we lose public education:

• We lose the shared foundation of democracy

• We lose free thought and open debate

• We lose generations of kids who deserve the chance to question, explore, and decide for themselves

⸻

The Final Question

In 1925, Clarence Darrow warned that “ignorance and fanaticism are ever busy.” Nearly 100 years later, they’re still busy—only now, they’ve got PACs, social media, billionaire backing, and the Supreme Court.

Will we defend free thought—or let it be erased, one lesson at a time?

⸻

📚 Further Reading & References:

🔍 On the Scopes Trial

Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion by Edward J. Larson (Pulitzer Prize winner – excellent historical context)

NPR: Scopes Trial: When Science and Religion Collided

🏫 On Current Battles in Education

PEN America: Banned in the USA, a regular report on book bans and curriculum restrictions

Learning for Justice magazine: The Far-Right Attack on Education: How Curriculum and Classroom Censorship Stifles Educators, Harms Students, and Threatens Our Democracy

💰 On Privatization and Defunding of Public Schools

Network for Public Education: Vouchers and the destruction of public education

Southern Poverty Law Center - Learning for Justice: Why public schools matter

ProPublica: Investigative series on charter schools and lack of accountability

Next. Citizens United Goes to School