The Scopes Trial, also known as the "Monkey Trial" or the State of Tennessee v. Scopes, was a very popular legal dispute in the courts that stood between the theory of evolution and creationism, and played a major role in shaping the 1920s. What was just as popular was the interpretation of the case, if not more so than the outcome real nature of the dispute. This case received worldwide attention and media coverage produced many different opinions around the world. One of the main reasons the Scopes trial had received so much attention in such an insignificant town was the stage on which the trial took place. It was the Butler Act that made the Scopes trial possible. The Butler Act stated that Tennessee public schools were prohibited from teaching evolution or going against the words of the biblical story of creationism. The law prohibited any teacher in universities, teacher training colleges, and all other public schools in the state supported in whole or in part by public funds of the state from teaching any theory that denies the history of creation divine nature of man as taught in the Bible and to teach instead what man has described from a lower order of animals. The law was put in place in 1925 with almost no opposition in the Tennessee Congress; if the law were to be broken, the violator would be fined $100 to $500. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a union that defended everyone's constitutional rights, offered to defend anyone accused of teaching evolution in schools in court. This did not shock the people of Tennessee. “A fellow legislator estimated at the time that as many as 95 percent of all Tennesseans were opposed to the teaching of evolution.” However...... middle of paper ......s. The scopes affair was fought on two levels which continue to be discussed today. The first concerned legal and political questions about what was and was not allowed to be taught in public schools and who should make the decision. But beyond these arguments, there was clearly another level. Both Bryan and Darrow believed that the theory of evolution and religion were in conflict and that one had to be right and wrong. America, along with the rest of the world, began to decide its views on the Scopes trial. “Most Southern Baptists viewed the trial as a morality play in which good conquered evil.” Fundamentalists were very offended when they were compared to lower animal species by the theory of evolution. The theme of good versus evil was the central point of the fundamentalist trial where evolution was evil..