Religion vs. Science Debate (Scopes Monkey Trail 1925)
“The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology”-Albert Einstein
http://www.npr.org/2005/07/05/4723956/timeline-remembering-the-scopes-monkey-trial
The Scopes Monkey Trial, also named “The State of Tennessee vs. John Thomas Scopes” was a famous case of a substitute teacher (John Scopes) teaching a class about human evolution. Around that time in Tennesse (1925) it was unlawful and taboo to teach students in state government funded schools about evolution because it violated the “Butler Act”. The case culminated to a $100 fine while embroiling national attention.
Its funny how something trivial can spur so much controversy.
This drawing takes the “Scopes Monkey Trial” rather literally. The weeping ape symbolizes the pervasive rejection of evolution. The two men resemble society turning its back on evolution.
Evolution is the incremental process that scientifically explains the development of all species. Religious institutions of the day mainly disagreed with evolution because it debunked the biblical Genesis.
Religious and governmental institutions live in entropy existence. Similar to a vortex, these institutions can suck in/lure individuals in through artificial synchronicity and deception. Entropy existence is simply the disorderly state these institutions exist in. Its a fundamental law of nature… Think of cleaning your room, eventually your room will become disorganized and messy if you fail to maintain that clean state. Anyway, these institutions often function under the matrix control system. Once ensnared, the individual spiritually stagnates and awareness/ individuality are suppressed. Dismissal of countering thoughts can become a knee-jerk reaction (reacting off instinct/subjective beliefs, rather than proper judgment and discernment).
When confronted with any differing idea or contention; consider it and evaluate it… Don’t go left or right, the truth is found between the two opposing sides. Awareness/integration of fears and weaknesses is the remedy for this intellectual virus.
A clarification on religion and spirituality is necessary. Religion can be an institution that stifles awareness/freewill while siphoning their energy. Spirituality simply acknowledges that there’s a soul embodied in every living organism. “Death” is perceived as a new chapter where the continuity of life remains relevant and undisturbed. Ideology has been (and still is) entrenched in the American populace. When the school board found out that John Scopes was stepping outside of the curriculum by teaching evolution, the school/entire nation pounced on Scopes because they thought he was “politically incorrect”. Nonsense; the nation immediately sided against Scopes, the teachings of evolution and actual science were taboo in America during that time.
In essence, this experience is not from A to B, it is infinite. There always has to be an experience, everything that exists now is supposed to exist. Creation makes no mistakes. This modern society disregards nature, feelings, metaphysics, etc. These individuals are spinning in the vortex (sucked in by entropy existence). Their life is like a car stuck in the mud, eventually, the cars engine will break. In other words, they are wasting energy and time living by these illusory limits and this illusion. They can abandon that vehicle and move on their journey, but only they can exit. Opportunities are omnipresent, take advantage of them and keep moving. Earth is a biological library with an abundance of information, learn so that you gain knowledge and apply it wisely.
Culture is simply a collection of beliefs of a large group of people. Its fine to have personal beliefs, but do not let them interfere with an openness to new decisions.Let them be malleable so when presented with any sort of information, you consider it and come up with your own conclusion. When you break away from that archaic paradigm, not only do you lose the shackles, the “prison” becomes an open playground.
“We are caged by our cultural programming. Culture is a mass hallucination, and when you step outside the mass hallucination you see it for what its worth” -Terrence Mckenna
Jack77 • Sep 5, 2014 at 2:44 pm
I never said evolution was politically incorrect. During that time (1925)Americas population was rife with fundamentalists and other religious zealots who opposed evolution and believed that the origin of life was some divine intervention (a genesis of some sort). These individuals found evolution to be politically incorrect. Why? because it contradicted their dogma, a core belief that they’ve clung onto for probably for their entire life. When information such as, say, evolution is introduced to an individual who is emotionally attached to dogmatic principals, cognitive dissonance occurs, which I think caused this furor. Cognitive dissonance is when you simultaneously hold onto two (or more) contradictory beliefs or ideas. Beliefs, regardless of what they teach or insist, can have profound effects on humans depending on how much emotion is invested in them. They can impair discernment, affect our biology, inhibit objectivity, etc. Its ludicrous that John Scopes was even sent to court, there should be no ramifications for introducing students to a new perspective. Dogma, whether coercive or subtle, should be never imposed on humans. Some exceptions may apply like science and philosophy should be integrated into the school curricula, chiefly because we live in a world destitute of reason and objectivity. I think spiritual truth is also imperative, but right now physical truth is an appropriate step in the right direction.
Evolution is an integral part of science and it should be incorporated in all school curricula intact. I kinda worry that some schools will try to fabricate the concept of evolution lol.
Also, religion and evolution are not mutually exclusive, there are plenty of objective religious individuals out there who agree with evolution. I appreciate your input.
era47 • Sep 5, 2014 at 8:37 am
The scopes money trial was understandable but to say that scopes was politically incorrect is too much. your right about how ideology is intrenched in our society but I feel that its important to teach evolution, at least to those who don’t believe in religion and would like an understanding about how things came to be as long as it comes through as a theory instead of it being in the textbooks as a known fact.