The '''Scopes Trial''', which took place in [[Tennessee]] in 1925, was a widely publicized trial that challenged the legality of a state law prohibiting [[public school]]s from teaching the theory that man had somehow evolved from more primitive life forms. The willing defendant, John Scopes, was convicted of violating the law, but won on a technicality on appeal.
This case illustrated the problem of [[fake news]], as the [[atheist]], bigoted reporter [[H.L. Mencken]] distorted what happened at the trial and misled the world about it. A review of the transcript reveals that [[William Jennings Bryan]] got the better of [[Clarence Darrow]], and yet Mencken reported the opposite in an extreme manner. Indeed, Darrow himself gave up and asked the jury to find his client John Scopes guilty, so that Darrow could renege on his promise to take the witness stand himself in exchange for cross-examining Bryan.
Uncommondescent.com declared: "It is a little known fact that [[William Jennings Bryan]] agreed to be interrogated by [[Clarence Darrow]] only if Bryan could in turn interrogate Darrow views of [[evolution]]. Darrow agreed, but then right after interrogating Bryan directed the judge to find Scopes guilty, thereby closing the evidence and thus preventing Bryan from interrogating Darrow."<ref>http://www.uncommondescent.com/evolution/the-vise-strategy-squeezing-the-truth-out-of-darwinists/</ref> Generally speaking, [[Atheism and Debate|leading evolutionists generally no longer debate creation scientists]] as the evolutionists tend to lose the debates.<ref>http://www.icr.org/article/811/</ref>