The Resurgence of Anti-Science Fundamentalism In America: R. Reich. Scopes 'Monkey' Trial
Last edited Thu Mar 14, 2024, 11:43 AM - Edit history (2)
Alternet, March 5, 2024. - Ed.
The recent ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court that frozen embryos are “children” reveals the growing importance of state supreme courts in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, overruling Roe v. Wade. So far this year, at least 14 states have introduced fetal personhood legislation - extending not only to fetuses, but also embryos and eggs.
2/3rds of pregnancy criminalization arrests are now coming from Ala., Okla., and S. Carolina - whose highest courts have defined “children” to include fetuses, fertilized eggs, and embryos. If you suffer a miscarriage, you could potentially be arrested for homicide or manslaughter. State courts have become the scenes of a growing number of reproduction criminalization trials.
Contraceptives and abortion pills may be the next targets. This month, the 2 largest pharmacy chains in the US will start dispensing the abortion pill mifepristone. The Ala. ruling also reveals the growing political influence at the state level of Christian fundamentalists who believe that human life, as Ala. Chief Justice Tom Parker wrote in a concurring opinion,
“cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God, who views the destruction of His image as an affront to Himself.”
And the ruling epitomizes the Christian right’s ever-more vehement attacks on science. We’ve been here before.
In the early 20th c., some state legislatures relied on the Bible to dictate what their citizens could and couldn’t do - resulting in notorious trials such as Tenn. v. John T. Scopes, 1925. Scopes was a high school biology teacher charged with violating the Butler Act which made it illegal to teach human evolution in state funded schools. Wm. Jennings Bryan, populist 3-time pres. candidate and former secretary of state, argued for the prosecution; Clarence Darrow, for the defense...
https://www.alternet.org/inside-the-resurgence-of-anti-science-fundamentalism-in-america/
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- Wiki. SCOPES TRIAL, formally The State of Tenn. v. John Thomas Scopes, commonly referred to as the Scopes Monkey Trial, was a legal case from July 10 - July 21, 1925...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopes_trial
- 'Inherit the Wind,' 1960 American drama film directed by Stanley Kramer and based on the 1955 play of the same name. Spencer Tracy as lawyer Henry Drummond and Fredric March as his friend and rival Matthew Harrison Brady. Featured, Gene Kelly, Dick York, Harry Morgan.
Inherit the Wind is a parable that fictionalizes the 1925 Scopes "Monkey" Trial as a means to discuss McCarthyism...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inherit_the_Wind_(1960_film)
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- McCarthyism, late 1940s-1950s, Second Red Scare. Key People: Owen Lattimore, Joseph McCarthy, J. Robert Oppenheimer
What is McCarthyism? McCarthyism is part of the Red Scare period of American history in the late 1940s and 1950s. During that time, Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy produced a series of investigations and hearings to expose supposed communist infiltration of various areas of the U.S. government.
Other aspects of the Red Scare included the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and the Hollywood blacklist.
The term McCarthyism has since become a byname for defamation of character or reputation by indiscriminate allegations on the basis of unsubstantiated charges...
https://www.britannica.com/event/McCarthyism
