Study Questions
1. What features of modern American life did most Americans, fundamentalists as well as modernists, accept and enjoy? What did fundamentalists dislike about modern America?
2. Why did the teaching of evolutionary theory create such a stir? Why did fundamentalists object to it? Was the theory really likely to undermine morality and civilization? How did modernists reconcile Darwinism and religion?
3. In what ways did Bryan’s earlier career make him a natural choice for joining the prosecution in the Scopes case? In what ways did Darrow’s career prepare him to defend Scopes?
4. Describe Dayton, Tennessee. In what ways did the town display fundamentalist conservatism? In what ways was it sympathetic to intellectual freedom? Why did the people in Dayton applaud Dudley Field Malone’s speech on intellectual freedom?
5. Why did William Jennings Bryan feel that he could do more for his country as a religious leader than he ever had as a politician?
6. What were the main issues in the Scopes trial? Why did Bryan condemn the theory of evolution? What was achieved in Darrow’s examination of Bryan? Why was Scopes convicted?
7. Do you think that people in Dayton were really threatened by the theory of evolution? Or were their real fears based on other social and cultural currents, such as the relaxing of sexual mores and unprecedented material change?
1. What features of modern American life did most Americans, fundamentalists as well as modernists, accept and enjoy? What did fundamentalists dislike about modern America?
2. Why did the teaching of evolutionary theory create such a stir? Why did fundamentalists object to it? Was the theory really likely to undermine morality and civilization? How did modernists reconcile Darwinism and religion?
3. In what ways did Bryan’s earlier career make him a natural choice for joining the prosecution in the Scopes case? In what ways did Darrow’s career prepare him to defend Scopes?
4. Describe Dayton, Tennessee. In what ways did the town display fundamentalist conservatism? In what ways was it sympathetic to intellectual freedom? Why did the people in Dayton applaud Dudley Field Malone’s speech on intellectual freedom?
5. Why did William Jennings Bryan feel that he could do more for his country as a religious leader than he ever had as a politician?
6. What were the main issues in the Scopes trial? Why did Bryan condemn the theory of evolution? What was achieved in Darrow’s examination of Bryan? Why was Scopes convicted?
7. Do you think that people in Dayton were really threatened by the theory of evolution? Or were their real fears based on other social and cultural currents, such as the relaxing of sexual mores and unprecedented material change?