07/01/2025
This month of July marks the 100th anniversary of in Dayton, Tennessee. A high school teacher in that city, John Thomas Scopes was accused of violating the state’s Butler Act, which made it illegal to teach human in any public school or university. Also in July 1925, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin faced his own trial over the same subject. Although knowing that all of the scientific evidence supported evolution on a cosmic scale, Teilhard also had a deep love for both Christ and the Church. And so, in July 1925, after a week’s retreat and reflection, Teilhard signed a document, demanded by his Jesuit superiors, repudiating his writings on original sin and evolution. He was removed from teaching, was forbidden to publish anything on religion, and was exiled to China.
Though differing “trials” in some ways – was about the legality of teaching evolution, while Teilhard’s case centered on the theological implications of evolution – both mark one hundred years of a seemingly never-ending cultural struggle between science and religious belief. That struggle persists to this day.
Learn more about this period in the life of this French Jesuit priest and scientist in the PBS documentary TEILHARD: Visionary Scientist. Stream it on the free PBS app (download at https://bit.ly/DownloadPBSApp), or use PBS Passport. Or use this direct link, https://to.pbs.org/3R89ycC, available to international viewers as well. Visit our website, https://www.teilhardproject.com/evolution/, for resources on Teilhard and evolution.