Legacy

This chapter examines the legacy of the Scopes trial as well as Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan with respect to creationism. The Scopes trial earned a special place in modern America's science versus religion controversy. It defined terms and tactics that have endured into the twenty-first century for the antievolution movement. Bryan appealed to national myths of egalitarianism and individualism, whereas Darrow drew on the ideals of individual rights and a rebel tradition that put individual dignity above a monarch's comfort, materially or philosophically. This chapter discusses the arguments of Bryan and Darrow as well as four myths that are appropriate to creationism/intelligent design: the garden, the frontier, progress and science, and individualism and egalitarianism. It also considers the creationists' use of symbols, myths, and a powerful poetic tradition to counter science and concludes with an assessment of the paradox of creationism and intelligent design: the fight to win intellectual respectability by assuming the trappings of science itself.