Ignorance Breeds Obedience — That’s Why Some Parents Prefer It
Keeping kids uneducated about sex, history and mental health is how right-wing parents maintain authority — and it’s child abuse.
It was nearly a century ago that Tennessee, the state where I was born and have lived for most of my life, outlawed the teaching of evolution in schools.
The Butler Act, as it was known, drew praise from perennial presidential candidate and former Secretary of State, William Jennings Bryan, who thanked the Governor for signing it by saying:
“The Christian parents of the state owe you a debt of gratitude for saving their children from the poisonous influence of an unproven hypothesis.”
The Act also drew legal action from the ACLU, which decided to test the law by funding a case involving a substitute teacher, John Scopes, who noted that he had indeed taught from the chapter of the state-mandated textbook describing evolution.
The resulting trial, which featured Bryan as a special prosecutor for the state and famed defense attorney Clarence Darrow representing Scopes, became a national sensation to which millions listened on live radio throughout the country.
