From World Radio, this is Double Take.

I'm Les Sellers.

This July marks the 100th year anniversary of the Scopes trial, the most famous misdemeanor trial in American history.

The monkey trial, as it came to be known, centered on a minor legal matter with major lasting effects.

Prosecutors in Tennessee charged a school educator, John Scopes,

with the crime of teaching evolution, a violation of state law at the time.

People often cite the Scopes trial as a pivotal moment that pitted science against Christianity,

evolution versus creation.

But the reality is much more complex.

Today, on Double Take, we'll look at what the Scopes trial was actually about

and why popular culture tried to portray it as a war.

Strike down this sinner!

You now get the enemies of old in the days of the Pharaoh!

Not just a war between science and Christianity,

but between fundamentalist rubbish and common sense,

as one reporter put it.

We'll also discuss the competing world views on human origins

and why it matters.

One more thing.

The podcast might sound a little different today.

Hi, I'm Jenny Ruff,

features writer and legal correspondent for World Radio.

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