The centennial of the Scopes "monkey" trial was considered by National Public Radio's All Things Considered (July 8, 2025) — and a number of experts at or associated with NCSE were consulted for comment.
NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch was quoted as saying that although John T. Scopes, the teacher accused of violating Tennessee's ban on teaching human evolution, was convicted, "some saw it as a moral victory for Scopes."
Kenneth R. Miller of Brown University, president of NCSE's board of directors, recollected that when he was in high school, the biology textbook omitted the word "evolution": "that was sort of part of the aftermath of the Scopes trial," he explained.
When Miller himself coauthored a high school biology textbook, he emphasized evolution — which occasionally provoked controversy, as in Dover, Pennsylvania, in 2004, ultimately leading to the 2005 trial in Kitzmiller v. Dover.
Later in the article, Branch commented on the increasing public acceptance of evolution, noting, "One of the factors that seemed to have made a big difference was improvement in state science standards" and citing the Next Generation Science Standards in particular.
Even so, Miller warned, the teaching of evolution is still under siege, noting that in 2024 West Virginia enacted a law that arguably invites teachers to misrepresent "intelligent design" as scientifically credible (as NCSE previously reported).
Also quoted were Daniel Mach of the American Civil Liberty Union's Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief as well as Edward J. Larson of Pepperdine University and Adam Laats of Binghamton University, both recipients of NCSE's Friend of Darwin award.
