Scopes Monkey Trial Returns

In the summer of 1925, a seething volcano finally erupted in the prosecution of general science teacher John Scopes for teaching evolution in Dayton, Tennessee. The teaching of evolution had recently been banned in 15 states, and opponents of evolution brought Mr. Scopes to task. Ever since Darwin published his theories in his book Origin of the Species, there has been fierce debate over its validity (although Darwin did not see a conflict between religion and his theory). At the crux of the issue is whether or not the version of creation propounded by some people of the Christian faith and purportedly propounded by the Bible (or at least some kind of intelligent designer directing the processes of life creation) is literally correct, or whether evolution is a more complete and accurate version of how human beings came into existence. Opinions on evolution have even been voiced in music. Merle Travis recorded That's All in 1947, where he states, "If you believe that monkey tale, like some folks do, I'd rather be that monkey than you."  The latest chapter in this struggle is the attempt to integrate the intelligent design (ID) theory into school curriculums.

It is best in this case, to allow the supporters of intelligent design to speak for themselves in defining ID. For this purpose, a quote from the Intelligent Design Network, is provided below:

"The theory of intelligent design(ID) holds that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause rather than an undirected process such as natural selection. ID is thus a scientific disagreement with the core claim of evolutionary theory that the apparent design of living systems is an illusion."
http://www.intelligentdesignnetwork.org/