In my auto-biography, I wrote about acting in Inherit the Wind. I’d like to go into a bit more detail on the impact this play had on my life. When I was ten, I understood that the play was about the conflict between creation and evolution, and I raptly followed Drummond’s cross-examination of Brady. It was clear to me where the flaws were in Drummond’s arguments, and I often wondered why Brady didn’t notice them and point them out, and why were some of Brady’s arguments so weak? It didn’t occur to me, then, that this was a play specifically written to ridicule Bible-believing Christians.
Just last year, Dad took me to a production of Inherit the Wind. The play, which highlighted atheistic arguments, but glossed over any Biblical ones; the actors, who portrayed Christians as angry, ignorant rubes with heavy Southern drawls; the audience, which laughed heartily at this bigoted caricature of my faith; that was what Dad wanted me to see and I’ll never forget it.
(p.s. If a certain Presidential nominee had attended that play would he have laughed with the rest at the portrayal of these bitter Americans clinging to their religion and antipathy towards others?)
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