christian literalists led the crusade to prohibit the teaching of evolution.
who led the crusade to prohibit the teaching of evolution?
christian literalists
by the terms of the statute, it could be argued, it was not illegal to teach evolution in respect to non-human creatures, such as that apes descended from protozoa or to teach the mechanisms of variation and natural selection. the bill also did not touch on, or restrict the teaching of prevailing scientific theories of geology or the age of the earth. it did not even require that the genesis story be taught, but prohibited solely the teaching that man evolved, or any other theory denying that man was created by god as recorded in genesis. however the author of the law, a tennessee farmer named john washington butler, specifically intended that it would prohibit the teaching of evolution. he later was reported to have said, "no, i didn't know anything about evolution when i introduced it. i'd read in the papers that boys and girls were coming home from school and telling their fathers and mothers that the bible was all nonsense." after reading copies of william jennings bryan's lecture "is the bible true?" as well as charles darwin's "the origin of species" and "the descent of man", butler decided the teaching of evolution was dangerous.
butler act
the fall of edessa in syria in 1144 shocked christendom, causing pope eugenius iii and st. bernard of clairvaux to preach a second crusade to reinforce outremer. while many south germans volunteered to crusade in the middle east, the north german saxons were reluctant. they told bernard of their desire to campaign against the slavs at a reichstag meeting in frankfurt on 13 march 1147. the wends were seen as a threat to christendom as they were apostates, meaning the crusade against them would be justified. approving of the saxons' plan, pope eugenius iii issued a papal bull known as the "divina dispensatione" on 11 april 1147. as part of the bull, eugenius iii fulfilled and validated a promise made by bernard that the same indulgences would be offered to those who crusaded against the wends as those who went to fight in the middle east. these indulgences offered a complete forgiveness of sin, meaning there was to be no difference between the spiritual rewards of the different crusaders. those who volunteered to crusade against the slavic pagans were primarily danes, saxons, and poles, although there were also some bohemians. in preaching the crusade, bernard feared that those who participated were doing so only for the possible material gain. in an effort to persuade crusaders to focus on spiritual conversion, bernard said, "we prohibit completely that a truce be made for any reason with these people [wends] either for money or tribute, until such time as, with the aid of god either their religion or their nation shall be destroyed," which was an condition added to the papal bull. the german monarchy took no part in the crusade, which was led by saxon families such as the ascanians, wettin, and schauenburgers. papal legate anselm of havelberg was placed in overall command.
wendish crusade