NOT ONE SOUL IN CHURCH SERVICE WILL 'CONCEDE' ANCESTRY WITH SIMIAN
Norfolk, Virginia (JFK+50) Associated Press reports that at yesterday morning's service at Park Avenue Baptist Church here in Norfolk, Rev. Dr. Floyd T. Holland preached on the topic 'Man or Monkey?'
While this topic is not that unusual in this day and age given the recent debate on the origin of man, the fact that Rev. Holland exhibited a live monkey "tethered a few feet from the pulpit" was a bit surprising.
At the end of his sermon, the Rev. held up the monkey and "challenged" the congregation to "standup and concede common ancestry with the simian."
According to AP, "nobody stood up!"
JFK+50 NOTE
The monkey, from the Norfolk Zoo, was exhibited in the church as a response to a proposed bill in the North Carolina legislature to prohibit the teaching of the theory of evolution in state supported schools.
States enacting anti-evolution laws in the 1920s included Arkansas, North Carolina & Tennessee. Violation of The Volunteer States's Butler Act (1925) led to the Scopes 'Monkey' Trial in Dayton, TN (July 1925).
The rise of Christian fundamentalism, which holds that the theory of evolution contradicts the Bible's account of creation, led to the anti-evolution movement of the 1920s. The theory, published in 1859 by Charles Darwin, was accepted by most in the scientific community.
SOURCE
"Evolution Controversy," by Lester Stephens, New Georgia Encyclopedia, www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/
"Monkey in Church Pastor's Exhibit In Evolution Rap," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., February 16, 1925, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
