Tennessee v. Scopes

In most science classrooms in public schools across the country, students learn that the origin of life on this planet evolved over millions of years. For many Americans, however, the theory of evolution is just one possible start of life on earth and not necessarily the correct one. These opponents of evolution-based teaching look to the biblical account in Genesis for the beginnings of organic life. They say that evolution does not offer an explanation between the vast differences between humans and other living forms. They contend that there is no scientific validity to the theory of evolution.

But evolution advocates cite the fact that the scientific community accepts the theory of evolution as the only acceptable scientific view. They state that there is substantial evidence to support Charles Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection. Natural selection, as described by Darwin in 1858, is the process that allows a species to evolve and adapt to its environment over a period of time. This happens when a species has a certain feature that enables it to survive and then passes that feature onto its offspring.