The Central Valley Alliance of Atheists and Skeptics is having it’s first ever Darwin Day celebration!
February 12th marks Darwin’s 199th birthday! Everyone who wishes to be there to share some pizza and a movie with us is welcome! Bring a friend. Bring a party hat!
We will be watching the movie, “Inherit the Wind” (1960).
Here are the details:
Event:
– CVAAS Movie Night, featuring the movie “Inherit the Wind” (1960)When:
– Tuesday, February 12What Time:
– 6 PM to 8:30 PM. The film will start at 6:30, and run time is 128 minutesWhere:
– Round Table PizzaLocation:
Clovis/W Herndon
775 West Herndon Ave #300
Clovis, Ca 93612
(559) 297-8264 – Pizza phone number
(559) 892-0102 – CVAAS phone number
(Map)
You can find out more about this event at the CVAAS Meetup site.
“Inherit the Wind“ (1960)
Based upon a fictionalized account of the Scopes Monkey Trial, “Inherit the Wind” features teacher BT Cates who is arrested for teaching Darwin’s theories to his class. Famous layer Henry Drummond defends Cates while the religious politician Matthew Brady prosecutes.
Some of the debates between the prosecution and defense are taken verbatim from the Scopes Monkey Trial (Scopes v. State of Tennessee, 1925). J. T. Scopes was the teacher arrested for teaching human evolution in violation of Tennessee’s “Butler Act”. Clarence Darrow defended Scopes while William Jennings Bryan prosecuted. Scopes was found guilty at the end of the trial, and ordered to pay a $100 fine – on appeal the conviction was overturned on a technicality and the Butler Act was held to be constitutional. The Butler Act was enforced in Tennessee until 1967 when it was repealed by the Tennessee Legislature.
Since 1987 the City of Dayton Tennessee has reenacted this famous trial every year, in the courtroom where the trial originally took place, using the official trial transcripts as the script for the reenactment. You can read excerpts from the trial transcripts here.
Darwin Day
February 12 is the birthday of Charles Darwin, and secular groups across the United States will celebrate this date in honor of the life of the man who described biological evolution through natural selection in his book, “The Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection”. You can download “The Origin of Species” here.
By honoring Darwin’s contributions as a symbol of the value of science, we are acknowledging that science is our most reliable method of gaining new knowledge and we are promoting a common bond with others around the world who also value the contributions of science.
Darwin’s findings have led to the present-day theory of evolution via genetic variation and natural selection, which is the central organizing principle of modern biology. Removing evolution from biology would be like removing the periodic table from chemistry or removing Newton’s findings from physics. Modern genetics has conclusively demonstrated the validity of Darwin’s finding of evolution through natural selection, making Darwin an excellent symbol of science.
You can find out more about Darwin Day at the official Darwin Day website.