History of Religion & Science

In the mid-19th century, paleontologists scrambling for fossils focused more on the prehistoric ancestors of contemporary creatures than on dinosaurs.

Today in History–May 5–the Library of Congress features the controversy surrounding teaching Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. On this date in 1925 John Scopes was arrested for teaching evolution in a Tennessee public high school. Originally conceived as both a test case and a publicity stunt, Scopes went to trial and was found guilty.