‘Scopes monkey trial’ town erects evolution figure’s statue
By JONATHAN MATTISE
Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – The famed “Scopes monkey trial” pitted two celebrity lawyers against one another, but only one was memorialized outside the Tennessee courthouse where the case unfolded — until now.
On Friday at the Rhea County Courthouse in Dayton the public will behold a 10-foot statue of skeptic Clarence Darrow, who argued for evolution. It will stand on the opposite side of the courthouse from a 2005 statue of William Jennings Bryan, the Christian defender of biblical creationism.
The trial garnered national headlines. Historians say it started as a publicity stunt for the small town.
Pockets of opposition in Dayton suggest many Christians still see evolution as clashing with their faith.
But the new statue hasn’t drawn teeming crowds like the ones that forced some 1925 trial proceedings to be moved outdoors.
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