Science friction. Part 1, Creation.

Two programmes from a three-part series on controversies between science and religion "Part 1: Creation" Everyman visits Nashville, Tennessee, in the run-up to a vote on a bill to make it illegal for schools to teach Darwin's theory of evolution as a fact (it would be permissable to teach it as a theory). Half of the U.S. population (120 million) believe in Biblical creation, and the debate is especially fierce in Tennesse where, in 1926, Dayton teacher John Scopes was sent for trial and found guilty of violating the Butler Act of 1925 making it an offence to teach evolution in school. The lobby supporting the bill believes that its acceptance would lead to a decline in moral standards. The American Civil Liberties Union believes that the bill would violate the Constitution and would not address the problems of violence in scoiety. On the eve of the vote, Prof. Richard Dawkins addresses the bill's opponents. The bill fails to become law by three votes.