ANTI-EVOLUTIONISTS SEEK FEDERAL STATUTES THAT MIRROR TENNESSEE'S ANTI-EVOLUTION LAW
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On July 26, 1925, The Sunday Star reports that "there is...no disposition...to take seriously" a lawsuit filed with the court of the District of Columbia to "restrict payment of salaries" of D.C. school officials who have permitted the teaching of theories which...'disrespect...the Holy Bible.'
There is also a proposal to have Congress...write into the Federal statutes the substance of Tennessee's Butler Act*. The hope among the anti-evolutionists is to have it eventually apply to land-grant and Federal aided colleges.
The Star reports also that it has conducted a survey among newspaper editors which indicates this proposal "would be intolerable (and an) illegal invasion of rights."
*Butler Act (1925), introduced in the Tennessee State Legislature by John Washington Butler, prohibited teaching humans evolved from a lower form of animal.
BA passed the TN legislature 71-6 & TN Senate 24-6 & was signed into law by Gov. Austin Peay. The BA remained on the books until 1967 when it was repealed. In 1968, the USSC ruled anti-evolution statutes unconstitutional.
SOURCES
"Congress Lacks Power to Ban Evolution, Aroused Editors Say," The Sunday Star, Washington, D.C., July 26, 1925, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
"Understanding the 1925 Butler Act of Tennessee," ThoughtCo, www.thoughtco.com/
