Talk:Butler Act
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[edit] Did Butler Know or Didn't He?
This section at the end of the fifth paragraph is clearly contradictory:
"... the author of the law, a Tennessee farmer named John Washington Butler, specifically intended that it would prohibit the teaching of evolution. He later was reported to have said, "No, I didn't know anything about evolution when I introduced it. I'd read in the papers that boys and girls were coming home from school and telling their fathers and mother that the Bible was all nonsense." After reading copies of both William Jennings Bryan's lecture "Is the Bible True?" as well as Charles Darwin's Origin of Species and Descent of Man, Butler decided evolution was dangerous."
He cannot have not known anything about evolution when he introduced the Bill if he read two of Darwin's books before deciding that Darwin's ideas were dangerous - which would presumably be what motivated him to present the Bill. Butler was actually in his second term when he introduced the Bill, because he wasn't entitled to present a Bill during his first term (as he had wanted to). Unless the source of the report of his alleged lack of knowledge can be produced and corroborated it seems to me that this is nothing more than highly partial newspaper reporting, designed to make the people of Tennessee look like ignorant hicks, of a kind that was widespread at the time. Unless there are any objections I would like to remove the "didn't know anything" quote. Arthur 18:58 October 11, 2005
[edit] Disambiguation needed?
There was an Education Act in Britain in 1944 that is also commonly known as Butler Act. Im no experienced Wikipedian, so can someone please either link to this page or make a new disambiguation?
[edit] First Paragraph/Line Unclear
The first line sounds, at first glance, as though it forbad the teaching of the literal translation of the bible. Suggested revision I suppose. I would do it, however there are a lot of the brackets, and I hardly know what those are. Also, I'm not entirely clear on the law itself. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.180.178.39 (talk) 09:15, 20 October 2007 (UTC)
Clear contradiction within the first paragraph? It says the butler act did NOT prohibit the teaching of evolution, however when you read the act it clear states that it prohibits it. I'm going to change it so it says it DOES prohibit it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by The White Alchemist (talk • contribs) 14:09, 10 April 2008 (UTC)
