Summary Of The Novel 'Monkey Girl' By Edward Humes

Monkey Girl: Evolution, Religion, and The battle for America’s Soul, is a non-fiction based novel that was written by Edward Humes. Edward Humes is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author, who was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Humes has also written various publications, which include Los Angeles Magazine, Sierra Magazine, Readers Digest, and many more (Humes). Throughout Monkey Girl: Evolution, Religion, and The battle for America’s Soul, the focus is on the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District Trial. It all began in 2004 when the Dover Area School District of Pennsylvania decided to modify the curriculum in biology, which required that Intelligent Design to be taught as a part of the scientific theory of evolution

and also that the book, Of Pandas and People, be used as a supplemental textbook. In the novel, Humes provided the reader with the historical background on the controversy of evolution. He does this by writing a very descriptive narrative that includes complete details of the Kitzmiller v. Dover trail regarding Intelligent Design.
The first case of evolution was in 1925, it was known as The Scopes Monkey Trial. “Scopes Trial is one of the best known in American history because it symbolizes the conflict between science and theology, faith and reason, individual liberty and majority rule” (Digital History, 2014). John Scopes a school was taken to court for violating the state law that banned evolution from being taught in school. Tennessee's anti-evolution law was thrown out for violating the Constitution's prohibition against the establishment of religion (Digital History, 2014). “The Scopes trial resulted in two enduring conclusions: that legislatures should not restrain the freedom of scientific inquiry and that society should respect academic freedom” (Digital History, 2014). The Scopes Trial was very similar to the Kitzmiller v. Dover Trial; Humes described it in the novel as the “second coming of the legendary Scopes Monkey Trial” (Humes, 2007, p. Prolouge 2). This court case brought back up the argument between form of creationism, intelligent design, and also the debate of separation of church and state.

In the novel Monkey Girl: Evolution, Religion, and The battle for American’s Soul, Humes tells the story of how 11 furious parents in the Dover Area school district decided to sue the school board and the district, because of the new learning objective requirement saying that all of 9th grade biology classes had to be taught Intelligent Design (ID), which is basically a form of creationism as a scientific alternative to evolution. They also believed that it “violated their first amendment right to information and ideas in an academic setting” (Humes, 2007, p. 221). This was the first legal trial to the perception of Intelligent Design. This novel is a narrative that captures nearly everyone’s view point in the Dover Area school District on the issue of Intelligent Design replacing evolution. There were numerous groups and organizations involved the trial including; The American Civil Liberties Union, Americans Unites for Separation of Church and State, Pepper Hamilton LLP, and the National Center for Science Education. This Trial was so major that even that national government was involved. George W. Bush sent a conservative appointee (John Jones) to the bench, which was done because it was “the early handicapping in the trial suggested a

judge who would take a narrow approach to the case” (Humes, 2007, p. 258). This trial lasted from September 26 to November 4, 2014 (Humes, 2007, p. 324). The court heard extensively from both sides, including those who were specialists on and for Intelligent Design and those who supported traditional non-theistic science approach. While reading the novel it becomes evident that several of the individuals that are rejecting evolution are rejecting it without actually understanding evolution. This becomes clear when Humes states that “52 percent of those with Bachelor’s degree except evolution; but only 20 percent of American’s with high school educations or less believe evolutionary theory is well supported by the fact” (Humes, 2007, p. 28) and also when he states that one young man responded that, “I’m afraid to learn too much about evolution, because it might make me doubt my religion”. Several other “problems” were named, but these problems had no relevance to evolution. On December 20, 2005, Judge Jones rendered his opinion on the case, it was a 139 page ruling which explained his ruling and his evidence to support it. Judge Jones ruled in favor of the plaintiffs affirming that the plaintiffs were right on the position that Intelligent Design is not science .When the next school board election came around, all those members that favored the addition of Intelligent Design in the districts science curriculum were voted out of office (Humes, 2007, p. 350). Judge Jones final ruling stated that Intelligent Design was not a science and that is could not be taught in the classroom, because it violates the Separation Clause. Jones also found that the school board had lied under oath and that they wanted to introduce religion into the science classroom. Judge Jones concluded his case with the words, “The facts of this case make it abundantly clear that the Board's ID policy violates the Establishment Clause. In making this determination, we have addressed the seminal question of whether ID is science. We have concluded that is it’s not and moreover that ID cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents” (Humes, 2007, pp. 331-332) .
Overall I believe that Monkey Girl: Evolution, Religion, and The battle for American’s Soul is a pretty interesting book. Being that the book is a narrative it allows the reader to fully engage with the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District Trial. Humes includes a large amount of detail about the trial, it’s as if you were actually sitting in the courts audience. He allows you to get the point of view and the ideas of almost every individual mentioned even the most tenacious, stubborn, and flawed individuals. For example, when Angie Yingling was asked to explain how she retrieved her understanding of intelligent design, she stated that she retrieved her information about intelligent design from “People magazine while standing in checkout lines at the grocery store and in Wal-Mart. Then she quickly added that she had also read portions of an issue of National Geographic in a doctor’s waiting room” (Humes, 2007, p. 226). Humes’ thorough description of this moment allows the reader to visualize that moment and how the court responded to her expert understanding of intelligent design. There are several other examples in the novel where you can see the unawareness on the subject of intelligent design. I like the way that Humes includes every detail about the unawareness of the school board on Intelligent Design. These descriptions allowed me to know the case a lot better. Humes uses about two hundred pages just to set the stage of the legal debate so that his audience is able to grasp the information that he his is trying to display. Humes hides his opinion so that the reader can get balanced understanding of the case and its background. I believe that Monkey Girl: Evolution, Religion, and The battle for American’s Soul is a very well written book that leaves little to no confusion with the reader when reading. Although the reader most likely already knows the outcome of the trail Humes’ descriptions leaves you on the edge wondering what will happen next.