Why are Darwin and Evolution So Controversial and So Politicized in the US?

Send us Fan MailThis podcast has two parts.  The first part is a discussion of the Scopes Trial of 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee.  Tennessee had passed a law restricting the teaching of evolution and a science teacher named John Scopes decided to challenge it.  The second part is a talk I delivered at a conference on Religion and Science. Interesting Factoid:  Those who argue against evolution say that there is no way natural evolution could have produced the human eye, for example.  There must have been an "intelligent design" behind what happened, i.e., God.  This curious phrase comes from a story in the McGuffey Readers.  George Washington, then a young boy, is walking through the garden with his father.  His father points to a pattern in the plants that spell out "George Washington."  His father asks how he thinks there can be such a thing.  Young George says  he thinks there must have been some 'intelligent design' behind it.  There the story ends.  I would put my money on George's father, but that is not the conclusion of those who believe in divine creation.   There are references to the Leopold and Loeb Trial, Clarence Darrow, William Jennings Bryan, John Scopes,  the Fundamentals of the Faith, H. L. Mencken, Nietzsche, Malthus, and the Bible. There is also a discussion of public opinion on relevant topics. Books:  Clarence Darrow.  For the Defense by Irving Stone Summer for the Gods.  the Scopes Trial by Edward Larson. Film and play:   Inherit the Wind.  Update:  Just reading the Larson book.  The Tennessee Supreme Court voted 3-2 to uphold the law.  One of the three justices said it did not prohibit "theistic evolution," i. e., the idea that God created evolution.  Also, Tennessee law specified that the jury should set the fine.  The jury had recommended that the judge set the fine at the minimum, i. e., $100.00.  The court ruled that this was out of order.  They vacated the conviction.  In the end, Scopes was NOT convicted.  Moreover, there was no appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court.  Scopes was offered scholarships to Harvard and elsewhere.  He went to the University of Kentucky to study engineering and became a petroleum engineer.