Inherit the Wind

I can't remember the last time a movie got me as fired up as this one did. It's based on the play that was based on the Scopes trial in 1925. I'm not sure how close it is to the true story, but the debate is the timeless creationism versus Darwinism. I was mad from the beginning, watching the citizens of this town marching and singing with signs saying, "Down with Darwin," "Deliver us from Evil," and the like. I took a step back and asked myself, "what about this is making me angry?" I don't have a problem with people expressing their religious beliefs and being passionate about those beliefs.

What I hate is the unwillingness to consider both sides of an argument, people who completely shut down and say, "this is the way it is and nothing else is possible." Creationists base their belief on the Bible and its infallibility as God's word... supposedly, meaning, if that were the case, I could live with it, but what occurred to me while watching the movie is that it is not the infallibility of God these people were holding sacred, but their own interpretation of God's word.

The Bible is man's interpretation of God's word. Man is fallible, so how can the interpretation be infallible? The common answer to that is that the authors of the Bible were inspired by God. Again, fair enough, but who decided that they were inspired by God? Other fallible men! The next answer is simply, "that's faith," but that's the same as saying, "I have no idea about anything, I just believe what I've been told to believe my whole life."

Wow. So this is a movie review right? Like I said, this show got me fired up. [We won't even go into the separation of church and state and how a public school could possibly ban topics simply because they conflict with fundamental religious teachings or the culture of hate, not love, that too often comes from zealots].

Anyway, watch this movie. It will get you talking and, hopefully, thinking.


Just to throw everyone for a loop - I DO believe in God and the teachings of Jesus Christ.