THIS MONKEY BUSINESS

John T. Scopes, teacher of science in a Tennessee high school, has been indicted by a grand jury upon the dire charge of teaching the theory of evolution to the innocent children of Rhea County. Therein, lies a situation which might be called a tragic farce.

In March, when Governor Peay signed the famous anti-evolution bill, he stated that "probably the law will never be applied. It may not be sufficiently definite to permit of any specific application or enforcement. Nobody believes it is going to be an active statute." In short, the Governor perched himself beautifully on the fence. The Fundamentalists were to have their law and their opponents were to have non-enforcement, and everybody was to be happy.

The sequel has shown, however, that religious fanatics are bent on securing the full measure the law allows. The demon, Evolution, is to be banished to the outer darkness while the solid Bryan phalanx is to remain master of the inner darkness.

The absurdity of the situation when any group--no matter what its nature--may dictate what shall be taught as true, is too great for words. It is not necessary to enter the lists either for or against Cardinal Newman who asserted that there can be no conflict between religion and science. The situation which confronts the thinking world is one in which a group of people who, ostensibly are champions of truth, have actually taken the field against it. It is not even necessary to assume that the theory of evolution is true. All one need assume is that it may be true. This possibility religious bigots deny. Truth to them is a tiny wad, and they claim to have it all. Such a conflict will do much to discredit religion. The real enemy, however, is not religion itself, but the obnoxious and blighting egotism of some of those who profess it.