Larson 9

The opposition to evolution linked biological evolution to the scholarly study of the Bible

19th century scholars showed by textual analysis that the bible had been written over time by different authors, this made people uncomfortable

• infographic
• Mark was written around 70 CE, John around 94 CE
• 1 Thessalonians, Galatians, Philemon, Philippians, 1-2 Corinthians, Romans, were written by Paul between 50 and 60 CE
• the other epistles were written 88-130 CE probably by authors other than the names given
• the two creation accounts in Genesis 1:1-2:3 and Genesis 2:4-25 were interpreted as written at different times by different authors
  

American Protestantism was changing

• Evangelical ideas (personal salvation and fidelity to the Bible as God's word) had spread in the early to mid 19th century in many churches--Second Great Awakening
• in the later 19th century mainstream churches (what are now Presbyterian, USA; United Methodist; ELA Lutherans) accepted some of the new biblical scholarship and evangelical churches began to be established separately
  
• in the 1910s some evangelicals began calling themselves fundamentalists, stressing the inerrancy of the Bible and the Bible as the absolute authority (infallibility is a weaker claim because that is taken to mean the Bible is infallible on matters of salvation and faith but may have errors in matters of no significance to that message)
  
• humans wrote down the words of the Bible exactly as dictated by God
• should be taken literally
• it was new for churches to say you have to believe this
  
• or was the bible inspired by God but written by men according to their best understanding?
• even if the original manuscript was inerrant, what about copying and translation errors?
  
• Pentecostals are a group of evangelicals who added speaking in tongues
• Christians felt threatened by new ideas (perhaps with good reason) and rejected more and more of them

Religious opposition to Darwin's ideas started growing about 20 years after the publication of Origin of Species, once the scientific consensus for evolution was clear

• evangelicals and fundamentalists increasingly took a stand against evolution
• conservative leaders in the large denominations pushed for them to take a stand as well
• Billy Sunday preaching
  
• the exceptions were Episcopalians and Congregationalists (only about 10% rejected evolution), who were disproportionately the leaders of society

• opposed evolution partly because Social Darwinism would hurt the poor
• saw a political opportunity in 1922 when legislators in Kentucky proposed a law to ban the teaching of evolution in public schools, but it did not pass
• A law did pass in Tennessee in 1925 and a teacher was promptly recruited to break it
• public high schools were just becoming available and in some cases required in rural areas
  

Scopes Trial

• major news coverage
  
• the prosecution wanted the issue to be whether John Scopes broke the law, which he did
• but Bryant gave an opening to a broader debate, which was mostly about the inerrancy of the Bible
• Bryant admitted that he didn't believe that the 6 days of creation were literal 24 hour days
• Scopes was found guilty but later the conviction was thrown out on a technicality

Other laws against the teaching of evolution were passed on a small scale, but no one was prosecuted for breaking them

Why was opposition to evolution on religious grounds so much stronger in the US?

• tradition of free speech and polarized debate
• new religious movements
• personalities and Americans like extreme personalities
• note that politics and religion were less linked then
  
• tradition from the pilgrims of building a religious society (however many early leaders of the nation were deists)
• the US had less historical tradition than European countries and somewhat less emphasis on social class so people looked to religion for a secure identity
  
• people were uncomfortable about change and wanted to go back to stability
• reconstruction led southerners to believe change was a bad idea, had recently ended
• particular separation between people struggling with a changing economy and the elite that was benefiting (robber barons), those struggling looked for religion for security
• industrialization and modernization were changing peoples lives