One hundred years ago, a substitute teacher named John T. Scopes agreed to help put the tiny town of Dayton, Tennessee, on the map by standing trial for violating a new state law that banned the teaching of evolution. It worked. The trial became the first American courtroom drama to play out in front of a national audience, with journalists, radio broadcasters, and literal trainloads of spectators flooding the town. A century later, most Americans are likely unfamiliar with the specific details—and even the outcome—of the “trial of the century.” But the trial’s central themes are still very present today. In education, law, and the broader culture, Americans are still torn between myth and fact, superstition and science, dogma and democracy. This past July, the Center for Inquiry (CFI) and the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) hosted the Scopes Trial Centennial conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The event welcomed a wide-ranging, multigenerational (and surprisingly musical) crowd of attendees, educators, activists, journalists, and scholars to reflect on the trial’s legacy and grapple with the future of its …