Fundamentalism
Fundamentalism was a belief that everything written in the bible was the liberal truth and if it wasn’t in the bible, it shouldn’t be believed. Fundamentalism became well accepted in the South and Midwest; however middle groups, such as Lutherans and Episcopalians chose to stick to their own traditions and not go along with or believe in all the new controversy. In 1925, John Scopes, a biology teacher in Tennessee, was arrested for teaching Darwinism in his classroom. In Tennessee at this time, fundamentalism was practiced by everyone and the idea of evolution was not in the bible, therefore it was forbidden to teach. A life-changing trial took place over his actions and Scopes was arrested and charged. After the trial, most public schools outlawed the idea of evolution and Darwinism and completely removed the subjects from their textbooks. Some school boards, like in Kansas, voted to change their curriculum to officially eliminate Darwinism. Instead of teaching evolution, a new “creation science” was developed that fit well with everyone’s beliefs. This science quickly became accepted and was much more approved by Americans.