Arkhaven Spotlight: Wise of Heart
“It shall be unlawful for any teacher in any of the Universities, Normals and all other public schools of the State which are supported in whole or in part by the public school funds of the State, to teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals.”
This is the wording of the Tennessee Butler Act of 1925.
Despite what you may have heard all your life, no, it was not in fact taken all that seriously by the men who passed it. Governor Austin Peay, who signed it, didn’t think anyone would ever try to enforce it. Violation of the act was a misdemeanor, with a fine of $100 to $500. Creationism wasn’t the driving force behind it, rather it was an attempt to prop up religion in public schools, which even in 1925 was seen to be dying.
So, no. The Butler Act wasn’t meant to be an iron hand of fundamentalism strangling the goddess of Reason, it was supposed to be an empty gesture.
The ACLU saw it as a golden opportunity. The ACLU even then was very much on board with getting religion out of schools. They advertised all over Tennessee offering to pay the expenses of any teacher who challenged the Butler Act by teaching Darwin in public schools.
The town of Dayton, Tennessee didn’t seem all that concerned about destroying science, their problem was that they needed a tourist attraction. The local mines were having a hard time of it, so various civic leaders got together and hatched a plot. John Scopes the football coach and substitute biology teacher agreed to be the fall guy.
Well, the town of Dayton got what it wanted out of it, even if nobody else did. Famed defense lawyer and ferocious atheist Clarence Darrow lead the defense. Three-time failed presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan was brought in to lead the prosecution. Neither man was licensed to practice law in Tennessee.
The trial was certainly iconic, you have to give it that. Men sweating heavily in white suits jammed into an overstuffed courthouse became the go-to cliché for any courtroom drama for the rest of the 20th century.
And at the end of the day, it was all a show. Bryan was fighting more against eugenics than for Christianity. Darrow, won it the moment he got to turn the courtroom into a national soapbox for atheism, even if he technically lost. It went to the Tennessee Supreme Court where to no one’s surprise they failed to find a state constitutional article that dictated what settled science must be. 40 years later the Warren Court found out there was one and overturned the Butler Act.
Scopes for his part didn’t have to pay the fine, because $100 was too high for a misdemeanor. He did have a very rough life afterward. He wasn’t remotely equipped for a life spent in the limelight.
As I said, a shit show.
Now, what if that show was taking place today? That is the question that Arkhaven writer Aetherczar asks in his new Arktoon, Wise of Heart.
All of the players from nearly a century ago are now reassembled and have taken the stage once more for Aetherczar’s bruising satire.
The teacher, Andrews, who thinks he’s in on it but doesn’t have the slightest idea what he has let himself in for.
The Democrat who has taken the prosecution. The Republican who will be acting as defense. Both of whom have a long history together and don’t really care about Andrews either way.
Andrew’s girlfriend who he has to know he can’t trust because her mother is out to destroy him.
His own boss, who set him up.
Andrews seems to have the entire world ready to use him to his poor profit.
Although the most burning question of the day is not Darwinian Natural Selection, (frankly there are more question marks over that now than there were in 1925).
No, the most burning question of today is, “can you define a woman?”
This is the one part of Wise of Heart that should be a joke and isn’t.
While this Arktoon is one of our primarily narrative-driven stories, Elin Chancey’s superb illustrations help bring Aetherczar’s story to vibrant life.
New episodes of Wise of Heart will post every Saturday.
My personal favorite scene is the media circus outside the courthouse. It was the perfect modern encapsulation of the Scopes Monkey Trial clown show.
“My four-year-old daughter has been having nightmares,” another reporter was emoting to yet another camera. “My daughter looked at me yesterday as I dropped her off at her daycare, so I could head to the airport, and she asked me, ‘Mommy, why won’t that mean teacher let me be a boy if that’s how I really feel? Why is he erasing me?’ I could give her… no answer.”
A trans four-year-old is like a vegan cat, everybody knows who made the decision.
