In the Beginning: Science and Religion in America
In 1925, Tennessee high school teacher John Scopes was charged with violating a state law banning the teaching of evolution. Back then, many people believed the Scopes “Monkey Trial” would be the last gasp of the anti-evolution movement. But 85 years later, about the same percentage of Americans believe in creationism as believe in evolution.
On this episode of BackStory, the History Guys explore the ways Americans have attempted to grapple with the biggest question of them all: “Where did we come from?” Together, they trace the ups and downs in the relationship between science and religion. Are there times when the two have not been at odds? How did the Founders conceive of “creation,” and why did the idea of extinction pose such a challenge to their worldview? How were Darwin’s ideas received in the U.S., and why did it take six decades before public school systems started challenging the teaching of his theories? What lessons does history offer those interested in charting a peaceful relationship between science and religion in the future?
Guests Include:
- Ronald Numbers – Professor of the History of Science and Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
- Joe Wilkey – Head of the Department of Science at Rhea County High School, Evensville, TN.
Show Segments
Listen to individual segments of the show.
Further Exploration
Resources galore! The BackStory team has pulled together some outside material to help you navigate the world of origin stories, including a bibliography of the sources consulted in the making of this episode.
Consult a transcript of the episode.
Even Further
See a listing of music used in the episode.
9 Responses
Trackbacks & Pingbacks
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In the Beginning: Show Segments | BackStory with the American History Guys :
[...] The following are individual show segments included in the BackStory episode “In the Beginning” broadcast in June of 2012. You can listen to the entire episode here. [...]
Quote -- June 4, 2012 @ 12:36 pm -
In the Beginning: Music Listing | BackStory with the American History Guys :
[...] This is a list of the music used in the BackStory episode “In the Beginning,” broadcast in June of 2012. You can listen to the entire episode here. [...]
Quote -- June 6, 2012 @ 3:10 pm -
In the Beginning (2012 rebroadcast): Show Transcript | BackStory with the American History Guys :
[...] The following is a transcript of the June 2012 rebroadcast the BackStory episode of “In the Beginning: Science and Religion in America.” You can listen to the episode here. [...]
Quote -- October 25, 2012 @ 2:29 pm
Why is it that this link http://backstoryradio.org/in-the-beginning-features-and-highlights/ brings me to this page ““Why They Fought” – Features and Highlights” rather than to the correct page as indicated. And this link http://backstoryradio.org/of-monkeys-and-men-the-history-of-science-and-religion/ takes me to “Climate Control: A History of Heating & Cooling.” Are you guys trying to hide something because the topic of Evolution has become too controversial, or is your webmaster just technically inept?
QuoteAndrew, sorry you’re having trouble. The links are working properly for me. If you’re still having trouble shoot me an email at vafh-web@virginia.edu and we’ll try to get to the bottom of this.
QuoteI wonder if you can point me to a resource that might answer this question: How (if at all) does contemporary questioning of the idea of evolution in biology relate to changing ideas about the idea of Social Darwinism/ popular conceptions of evolution in the social/anthropological realm? As I understand it, one might consider questioning of evolutionary science as a conservative tendency, and questioning of evolutionary thinking in social/racial terms as a liberal tendency – and this is interesting to me.
QuoteI suspect that Social Darwinism was both developed out of the scientific study of evolution and the Christian understanding of hierarchies between Christians and “heathens”. If this is the case, does reaction against scientific evolution lead Christians to lean more heavily on the Christian vs. Heathen explanation of difference, or does it lead to a less heirarchical way of understanding relationships with other peoples, or something else?
QuoteI am just catching up with past episodes of Back Story. In this Science vs Religion episode there are excerpts from an interview with Professor Ronald Numbers and it is mentioned that there will be a link to the complete interview on the show page. I cannot find the link and wonder if you could point me to it.
Thank you,
Margaret LaFaive
QuoteGot to admit I was pretty disappointed with this one. For being a bunch of really smart guys in academia you seemed to actively avoid sharing the academic (& scientific) take on evolution. The high school teacher from Tennessee shared an “interesting” perspective, but it would have been great to have a counter perspective from an actual scientist.
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