Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan during the trial In 1925 one of the most notorious trials testing the teaching of Darwinism in public schools was conducted in Dayton, Tennessee. Officially referred to as State vs. John Scopes but often called “The Monkey Trial” it became at times more circus than law. Here is a link to an interesting description of the proceedings: http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scopes/evolut.htm This was not the last legal challenge to teaching evolution in public schools. While the conflict between science and religious beliefs is not unique to Evolutionary Biology, this field is often singled out for special consideration. Read the description of the Scopes trial and write a brief paragraph explaining why you think the teaching of Evolutionary Biology has been such a longstanding controversy in America. What do you expect to happen over the next few decades? Will we reconcile the differences and move past the contention, or will this divisive issue continue to be debated in our highest courts?