Writing for Scientific American (January 24, 2025) — just a day before the 100th anniversary of the birth of the evolutionary geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky — NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch argued that today, a century after the Scopes trial, teaching evolution has a bright future in the United States.
Acknowledging "the occasional outbreak of explicit attacks and a background level of implicit hostility across the country," Branch nevertheless observed that "creationist attacks on evolution education are on the wane, adding, "Acceptance of evolution became a majority position among the American public more than a decade ago, according to multiple independent polls, and there are signs of a shift even among religious communities that have been traditionally hostile to evolution."
"In short, a century after Scopes's eight-day trial ended," Branch concluded, alluding to Dobzhansky's famous dictum, "there's now reason to hope that someday every student in the U.S.'s public schools will be in a position to appreciate that nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution."