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?)
No comments:
Post a Comment