Contact information
Name:
Robert Cohn
Phone:
610-330-5182
Email:
cohnr@lafayette.edu
When:
Monday, March 31, 2014 - 7:30pm - 9:00pm
Where:
Kirby Hall Auditorium 104
Presenter:
Dr. Finbarr Curtis, Georgia Southern University
Price:
Free
The 1925 Scopes Trial, which drew national attention to a Tennessee law
that prohibited teaching evolution in public schools, is often portrayed as
the triumph of scientific rationality over religious certainty. In
particular, the 1950s play Inherit the Wind helped to popularize a
narrative in which science managed to break free of constraints imposed by
“bigots and ignoramuses.” This talk will consider how the play has
participated in the creation of a secular myth that holds that free inquiry
by itself will lead to consensus about scientific truth. By
celebrating intellectual freedom, this secular mythology deflects attention
from the institutional frameworks that produce science and structure public
debate.
Sponsored by:
Department of Religious Studies through the Lyman Coleman Fund