BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 10, 2025
One hundred years ago, in July of 1925, the so-called Monkey Trial took place in Dayton, Tennessee. It was, I think, supposed to have been the final catharsis, the last gasp of religious fundamentalism guiding science instruction as evolution made its inexorable way into the educational curriculum. But a century since, we seem to have stalled in our progress. Evolution is a fact. The physical world changes, and life must change along with it or else it will go extinct. One would like to think that science had triumphed and fundamentalism had ebbed. But as of last year, 17 states taught evolution only alongside creationism. 100 years post-Scopes, anti-evolution sentiment still lives and breathes in the United States. ~ Robert Klose, emeritus professor of biological sciences, University of Maine at Augusta