Clarence Darrow Lives!

General Assembly 2001 Event 5014

Sponsor: Friends of Religious Humanism

Speakers: Rev. Roger Brewin and Rev. Stefan Jonasson

This morning, in a basement meeting room of the Cleveland Convention Center, Clarence Darrow returned to life—or maybe his audience stepped back in time.

Mr. Darrow, just off the train from Chattanooga, informed his listeners of the status of the case in which he is defending John T. Scopes against the charge that he taught evolution in a Tennessee public school. Mr. Scopes and Mr. Darrow lost the case at the trial level and they have exhausted their remedies under state law. They intend to file an appeal within the week in Federal court.

Mr. Darrow went on to thank those attending for the moral and financial support they had provided during the trial. In particular, he noted one Cleveland couple who had come to Dayton, Tennessee and sat in the front row of spectators in the courtroom, and had then taken Mr. Darrow and his Tennessee associate to dinner at a Chattanooga restaurant "with refrigerated air."

He also spoke with respect of his late friend and opponent, William Jennings Bryan, of his distaste for prohibition, and of his belief that both the King James Bible and On the Origin of Species are books, that each may contain some truth, that neither rules the other out, and that neither should be banned. Readers wishing to hear from Mr. Darrow may reach him by contacting Rev. Mr. Roger Brewin, Minister of the First Unitarian Church in Hobart, IN.

Read a complete transcript (PDF) of Rev. Roger Brewin's presentation.

Reported by Bill Lewis