15 November 2025

We are not so persuaded that there is a fundamental division between science and religion. The two can live comfortably together. This is seen not least in the way Darwin’s Theory of Evolution fails to disturb mainline Christians and their understanding of the creation of human beings.

The timescale of Biblical science was challenged in the eighteenth century by James Hutton and his geological discoveries which demonstrated how the earth has evolved over long periods of time. The Earth could no longer be considered to be 6,000 years old.

This year, people in America marked the centenary of one of the most famous trials of the twentieth century – the State of Tennessee versus John Thomas Scopes (10-21 July 1925). It became known as the Scopes Trial or the Scopes Monkey Trial. It  involved a young schoolmaster accused of teaching the theory of evolution.

In the Butler Act, the State of Tennessee had recently outlawed the teaching of human evolution in State schools. Scopes couldn’t remember whether or not he had taught evolution but three students testified against him.

The fundamentalist Christians who believed in the Bible’s inerrancy were pitted against the modernists who believed evolution could be consistent with religion. The trial was as much a theological contest as an opportunity to determine  what should be taught in the State schools.

Scopes was found guilty and fined 100 dollars. This was overturned on a technicality. The Judge had specified a fine more than 50 dollars and this wasn’t in his remit. Some people still believe in creationism and Darwin’s brilliant work is still a theory albeit  the best we have at the moment!