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By Holly Meyer and David Crary |
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By Holly Meyer and David Crary |
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It’s Friday, World of Faith readers!
We start 100 years ago with the Scopes monkey trial, which raised questions still being debated today. Then, there’s a look at why these are not your grandmother’s U.S. Protestant denominations anymore. And a former megachurch pastor from Texas is in legal trouble after being indicted on child sex abuse charges. |
Defense attorney Clarence Darrow, left, and prosecutor William Jennings Bryan speak with each other during the Scopes monkey trial in July 1925, in Dayton, Tenn. (AP Photo, File) |
How an anti-evolution law a century ago set up an infamous showdown over religion in public schools |
In March 1925, Tennessee became the first state in the nation to ban the teaching of evolution in public schools, eliciting strong reactions across the U.S. It was a win for fundamentalist Christians who saw the theory of evolution as a direct challenge to biblical story of creation. The American Civil Liberties Union went in search of a test case to challenge it. What followed was the Scopes monkey trial, a legal spectacle that played out in the small town of Dayton, Tennessee, raising questions that are still fought over today about the role of religion in government-funded schools. Read more.
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Historians say the trial started as a tourism gambit on behalf of Dayton, where the town's leaders were eager for an economic boost and encouraged a local teacher, John T. Scopes, to challenge the law.
The trial became sensational largely because it brought together two prominent adversaries. William Jennings Bryan, former secretary of state who ran for president and served in Congress, helped the prosecution. Clarence Darrow, a top defense attorney, represented Scopes.
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While the jury sided with the prosecution, the case generated more attention and interest in evolution. More than 20 anti-evolution bills were defeated in statehouses across the U.S. shortly after the trial. But it would take another four decades before Tennessee's law was repealed.
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Protestant denominations in US cutting staff, trying new ideas amid declines in members and money |
When the Episcopal Church announced cuts to its national staff last month, it was the latest in a long-running cycle among historic U.S. Protestant denominations — declines in members leading to declines in funding and thus in staff. Nor was it alone. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has similarly announced recent cuts to staff at its headquarters and in its global missions program. And the United Methodist Church, after undergoing a major schism, has settled into a historically low budget. It has cut the number of bishops and other positions. Read more.
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While the circumstances vary, there are some common threads. Several are losing members, notably Episcopal, Presbyterian and Methodist churches that have been aging and shrinking, and suffered schisms as they moved in more progressive directions.
As a result, denominations have had to do less with less — not only cutting budgets to balance the bottom line, but making strategic changes and trying out new ideas. At the same time, the number of nondenominational churches has grown over the past decade, as have the ranks of the religiously unaffiliated.
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Former Texas megachurch pastor indicted in Oklahoma on child sex abuse charges |
A former pastor of a Texas megachurch, who resigned after a woman accused him of sexually abusing her in the 1980s, has been indicted in Oklahoma on child sex abuse charges. Robert Preston Morris, 63, was charged with five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child; he could face up to 20 years in prison for each charge. The alleged abuse started in 1982 when the victim was 12 and Morris was a traveling evangelist staying in Hominy, Oklahoma, with her family, according to the attorney general’s office. Read more.
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Cindy Clemishire, Morris’ accuser, said she is grateful to the authorities who worked to make the indictment possible and is hopeful “justice will ultimately prevail.”
The Gateway Church, based in the Dallas suburb of Southlake, was founded by Morris in 2000. The church has multiple locations and is among the largest in the U.S, according to the attorney general’s office.
Morris was known to be politically active. The church hosted President Donald Trump on its Dallas campus in 2020 for a discussion on race relations and the economy.
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