THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 1925. A HERESY TRIAL.

Wairarapa Age, 29 July 1925, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 1925. A HERESY TRIAL.

The rather unexpected death of Mr William Jennings Bryan marks tragically the end of the first stage of the extraordinary law case at Dayton, Tennessee, in which a school-teacher named Scopes is being triced for heresy in that he has taught the theory of the evolution of species as against the teachings of the Bible. A contemporary, writing rather humorously on the trial and the solemn arguments as to the feasibility of the whale swallowing Jonah, remarks that at the very moment of the pronouncement of Hhe decree of Pupal Infallibility at Rome in 1870 a terrific thunderstorm burst over the Eternal 'City, and it is still a moot question with controversialists whether it was a benediction or a malediction. Bather similar was the incident at Dayton, when cracks were detected opening out in the walls of the court house so wide that the judge thought it prudent to order the room to be cleared. The trial then proceeded on the lawn. Our contemporary says it is a pity that the whole case has not collapsed, since it raised a false issue between science and religion. Knowledge has progressed so mnch that the most devout Christian to-day would not dream of denying the obvious truths of science any more than the true scientist would endeavour to npset the beliefs of the Qoapel. .Even science has its beliefs which are accepted as a matter of faith, and science would not think of riding roughs shod into the realms of religious faith and hurling to the ground the truths of Christianity. The tragic death of Mr Bryan, himself a most devout believer in the Gospel, might be used by frivolous controversialists to bolster up their case. The marvel is that the whole matter has been taken so seriously as to occupy the United States courts for so many days and to enrol such a galaxy of the leading counsel of the Republic. The hapless teacher, whose fault was in using state-prescribed text books, is at present under the shadow of a fine of 50 dollars. Ho is appealing on the ground that the prosecution was invalid under the Constitution.