The trial of John Scopes began 90-years ago today, on July 10, 1925.
The trial of the infidel Scopes, beginning here this hot, lovely morning, will greatly resemble, I suspect, the trial of a prohibition agent accused of mayhem in Union Hill, N.J. That is to say, it will be conducted with the most austere regard for the highest principles of jurisprudence. Judge and jury will go to extreme lengths to assure the prisoner the last and least of his rights. He will be protected in his person and feelings by the full military and naval power of the State of Tennessee. No one will be permitted to pull his nose, to pray publicly for his condemnation or even to make a face at him. But all the same he will be bumped off inevitably when the time comes, and to the applause of all right-thinking men.
It should be a source of embarrassment to all sane Americans that, even today, uneducated and resolutely ignorant yahoos are able to undermine the future of their children and their country by obstructing proper science education in public schools — and that they enjoy public subsidies while doing so. Tax privileges for religion must end.