This is the hundredth anniversary year of the Scopes Monkey Trial, which turned on whether Tennessee students should be taught in schools that humans descended from non-human animals. The famous trial of schoolteacher John T. Scopes featured prominent lawyer Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) who thought yes against former Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan (1860–1925) who thought no.

Much has changed on the topic of evolution. In the National Catholic Reporter, Canadian priest and media commentator Fr. Raymond J. De Souza argues that today, Fr. Martin Hilbert, C.O., of the Toronto Oratory would have won the argument against Darrow, based on his recent book, A Catholic Case for Intelligent Design (Discovery Institute Press, 2024).

At Evolution News, David Klinghoffer explains:

≻───── ⋆☆⋆ ─────≺

The National Catholic Register  has an interesting take on today’s hundredth anniversary of the Scopes trial verdict. Father Raymond J. de Souza recalls a striking New York Times op-ed in 2005 by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn arguing that, “Any system of thought that denies or seeks to explain away the overwhelming evidence for design in biology is ideology, not science.” Father de Souza then turns to the Scopes anniversary and considers the state of the discussion about Catholicism, evolution, and intelligent design today.

For Catholics (and others) interested in the subject, Father de Souza has a book recommendation from Discovery Institute Press. The author, Father Martin Hilbert, he thinks, “would have won the argument with [Clarence] Darrow.” Considering that Darrow (pictured above in 1925) was among the most accomplished lawyers (and arguers) of his day, that’s some significant praise.

From, “The Scopes Trial, Cardinal Schönborn, and the Enduring Quest for Intelligent Design“:

An important recent book by Oratorian Father Martin Hilbert of the Toronto Oratory, The Catholic Case for Intelligent Design, makes a bolder claim, namely that Darwinian materialism is not only weak on the theology and philosophy, but on the science, too. An engineer by training who did his scholarly work in the philosophy of science, Father Hilbert advances the debate from 2005 by arguing the scientific case against Darwinian randomness.

Father Hilbert argues that causality — design, to use the more loaded term — is written deep into nature, and the best science demonstrates that. Who did the writing is a different question, but from disputes over authorship it does not follow that there was no author at all. Hilbert is not the fiery orator that Bryan was, but he would have won the argument with Darrow. [Emphasis added.]

He adds:

In other areas, the worlds of intelligent faith and honest science have drawn closer together. In 1925, Msgr. Georges Lemaître, a Belgian Catholic priest, was at work on what we now call the “big bang theory,” a scientific account that he thought consistent with Genesis. It’s more than that, actually: “Let there be light” is Msgr. Lemaître’s theory rendered in biblical poetry.

If you haven’t read Father Hilbert’s excellent book, The Catholic Case for Intelligent Design, it is, as I said, available from Discovery Institute Press as well as from Amazon and other sellers.

≻───── ⋆☆⋆ ─────≺

You may also wish to read: Fr. Martin Hilbert approaches the topic from the perspective of evidence, reason, and faith — and realism about what is at stake in the discussion. Fr. Hilbert shows that we have not found anything that justifies a Darwinian approach to life as somehow more compatible with science than a Christian one.