Inherit the Wind
By Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee

Inherit the Wind is a dramatization of the Scopes Monkey Trial of the 1930's, which challenged local legislation banning the teaching of Darwin's theory of evolution in classrooms. The lawyers were two of two of the greatest men of their time, and both were wonderful orators. Drummond, the defense attorney, speaks now in response to being asked, "Is it possible that something is holy to the celebrated agnostic?"

DRUMMOND:

Yes! The individual human mind. In a child's power to master the multiplication tables there is more sanctity than in all of your shouted "Amens!", "Holy, Holies!" and "Hosannahs!" An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral. And the advance of man's knowledge is more of a miracle than any sticks turned into snakes, or the parting of waters! But are we now to halt the march of progress because Mr. Brady frightens us with a fable?
(Turning to the jury.)
Gentlemen, progress has never been a bargain. You've got to pay for it. Sometimes I think there's a man behind a counter who says, "All right, you can have a telephone; but you'll have to give up privacy, the charm of distance. Madam, you may vote; but at a price; you lose the right to retreat behind a powder-puff and a petticoat. Mister, you may conquer the air; but the birds will lose their wonder, and the clouds will smell of gasoline!"
(Thoughtfully, seeming to look beyond the courtroom.)
Darwin moved us forward to a hilltop, where we could look back and see the way from which we came. But for this view, this insight, this knowledge, we must abandon our faith in the pleasant poetry of Genesis.

Why did God plague us with the power to think? Mr. Brady, why do you deny the one faculty which lifts man above all other creatures on the earth: the power of his brain to reason? What other merit have we? The elephant is larger, the horse is stronger and swifter, the butterfly is more beautiful, the misquito more prolific, even the simple sponge is more durable.
(Wheeling on Brady.)
Or does a sponge think?

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