Animals: Tradition - Philosophy - Religion Article used with permission from All-Creatures.org

Dr. Michael W. Fox reflects on the hundredth anniversary of the Scopes "Monkey" Trial and the relevance of this trial today.

Now a Century Since the Scopes “Monkey” Trial
From Dr. Michael W. Fox, DrFoxOneHealth.com
August 2025

Photo from Canva

It is now one hundred years since the “Scopes Monkey Trial” of a science teacher in Tennessee informing his students about biological evolution that was opposed by moral fundamentalists who believed God created man in His own image and that we did not descend from animals. This is highly relevant today as we define and refine the meaning and practice of democracy, and the scientific community, along with academia, are under attack for being “woke.” Beyond compassion and respect for all life there are no moral absolutes. The hallmark of democratic society is moral pluralism, the antidote to authoritarianism. There is no contradiction in accepting biological evolution, (and we have fossil evidence to prove it), and belief in God or a higher power of creation.

Those who believe that only man was made in God’s image cannot deny the reality of our inhumanity. If we are made in the image of God, then what kind of God would condone human violence and animal cruelty and exploitation? Norman Vincent Peale would say this comes from our separation from God. There are millions of people who experience divinity or a sense of the sacred, the numinous, in Nature and in the presence of other species, wild and domesticated. Our destruction of Nature and cruelty to animals is, theologically, our separation from God. We are part of nature and nature is part of us. Harm one and we harm the other.

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Posted on All-Creatures.org: August 14, 2025
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