T. T. Martin
Encyclopedia
T. T. Martin, in full Thomas Theodore Martin (born 1862 in Smith County, Mississippi
, died May 23, 1939) was an Christian evangelist
who became one of the most important figures of the anti-evolution
movement in the 1920s. When the Anti-Evolution League of Minnesota founded by the dynamic William Bell Riley
of the First Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota blossomed into the Anti-Evolution League of America
in 1923 it was with Kentucky preacher Dr. J. W. Porter as president and Martin as field secretary and editor of the organization's official organ, "The Conflict." Martin would go on to become the secretary general of the North Carolina Anti-Evolution League, and an official of the Bible Crusaders.
. Martin wanted parents to pressure school boards and state legislatures to take steps to stop the teaching of evolution. The following is an example of Martin's prose style from the book:
Martin defended anti-evolution laws by claiming that they protected the individual liberty of religious students. "Christ or Evolution" was his other significant work, and is in a similar vein, constituting a colorful pair of diatribes if not outright polemics on the subject. Both works are representative of the anti-evolution rhetoric of this period. Granted, Martin was not as eloquent as William Jennings Bryan
, but then there was nobody in the movement on the same level as the Great Commoner. However, Martin proved to be just as influential in getting anti-evolution laws passed, which is what makes these two works of great interest to those studying the history of the conflict between Christianity and science over evolution in this country and a struggle that is now almost a century old and still unresolved given what I have been reading about in the press.
Martin showed up for the Scopes Trial
in Dayton, Tennessee
, where he rented a store as a book shop on which he hung a giant sign that read promoting his books. Also sold were Martin's "Evolution or Christ," Bryan's "In His Image," Alfred W. McCann's "God--or Gorilla?," and B.H. Shadduck's "Puddle to Paradise." The best sellers proved to be "Hell and the High Schools" and the adventist science educator George McCready Price
's "The Phantom of Organic Evolution" (Price was Bryan's main authority in his only speech in court during the trial).
During the trial Martin preached on the streets of Dayton and once cornered H.L. Mencken in the Rhea County Courthouse and demanded to know if he was converted or not. During a second encounter outside of Robinson's Drug Store, Mencken told Martin there was a group of Bolsheviks arriving in town to murder Bryan, which sent the preacher to warn the local police that the ACLU. was sending assassins to kill Bryan and other Christian notables. Martin gave his permit to preach from the public platform one evening to Charles Francis Potter
, provided the Modernist minister did not preach about evolution (Martin was under the same prohibition and Potter made a plea for liberal education as the basis for values instead).
In February 1926 a monkey bill similar to Tennessee's Butler Act
was introduced in the Mississippi House of Representatives. Martin and others from Washburn's Bible Crusaders arrived to lobby the legislators and the bill passed 76 to 32. In the state Senate there was a heated debate, during which an opponent proposed an amendment to make the penalty "death by burning at the stake, it being the spirit of this bill to restore the Spanish Inquisition
." The amendment was defeated but the bill passed, 29 to 16, and was signed by Governor Henry L. Whitfield
. While Chancellor Hume of the University of Mississippi
argued the law would force the state's teachers to be intellectually dishonest, the superintendent of the high school in Meridian
held a public bonfire to burn all pages about evolution from textbooks used in his school. The ACLU offered to assist any Mississippi taxpayer or member of the American Association of University Professors in a suit to challenge the case was ignored given what had happened in Dayton to John T. Scopes
.
Because of Martin's efforts, and rhetoric in keeping with these anti-evolution writings, Mississippi became one of only two states to pass and keep anti-evolution legislation on the books in the wake of the Scopes Trial
. The other state was Arkansas and it was that state's law that was the basis of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that anti-evolution laws were unconstitutional in Epperson vs. Arkansas, 393 U.S. 97 (1968).
Martin died on May 23, 1939, and was buried at Gloster, Mississippi
. On his gravestone was carved the three Scripture texts which were the core of his ministry: John 3:16, Acts 16:31, and John 5:24.
Smith County, Mississippi
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 16,182 people, 6,046 households, and 4,558 families residing in the county. The population density was 25 people per square mile . There were 7,005 housing units at an average density of 11 per square mile...
, died May 23, 1939) was an Christian evangelist
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
who became one of the most important figures of the anti-evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
movement in the 1920s. When the Anti-Evolution League of Minnesota founded by the dynamic William Bell Riley
William Bell Riley
William Bell Riley was known as "The Grand Old Man of Fundamentalism." After being educated at normal school in Valparaiso, Indiana, Riley received his teacher's certificate. After teaching in county schools, he attended college in Hanover, Indiana, where he received an A.B. degree in 1885...
of the First Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota blossomed into the Anti-Evolution League of America
Anti-Evolution League of America
The Anti-Evolution League of America was an Adamist organization created in 1924 a year after William Bell Riley founded the Anti-Evolution League of Minnesota. The first president was the Kentucky preacher Dr. J. W. Porter and T. T. Martin of Mississippi was field secretary and editor of the...
in 1923 it was with Kentucky preacher Dr. J. W. Porter as president and Martin as field secretary and editor of the organization's official organ, "The Conflict." Martin would go on to become the secretary general of the North Carolina Anti-Evolution League, and an official of the Bible Crusaders.
Biography
"Hell and the High Schools," first published in 1922, attacked Evolution and the teaching of Evolution in tax-supported schools as "the greatest curse that ever fell upon this earth." In Martin's view this was an even greater sin than when the Germans poisoned wells and gave children poisoned candy during World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Martin wanted parents to pressure school boards and state legislatures to take steps to stop the teaching of evolution. The following is an example of Martin's prose style from the book:
- "Reader, if you are not a parent, do you not yearn intensely to turn my child, your neighbor's child, your enemy's child, from spending Eternity in hell? Were even your enemy's house on fire, would you stand by in indifference and let his child be burned alive? Yet that child's being burned alive is as nothing when compared to that child's spending eternity in hell. You would go to the limit in helping to rescue the child from the burning building. Isn't saving a soul from spending eternity in hell ten million times more important than saving a human body from a burning building?"
Martin defended anti-evolution laws by claiming that they protected the individual liberty of religious students. "Christ or Evolution" was his other significant work, and is in a similar vein, constituting a colorful pair of diatribes if not outright polemics on the subject. Both works are representative of the anti-evolution rhetoric of this period. Granted, Martin was not as eloquent as William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan was an American politician in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. He was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as its candidate for President of the United States...
, but then there was nobody in the movement on the same level as the Great Commoner. However, Martin proved to be just as influential in getting anti-evolution laws passed, which is what makes these two works of great interest to those studying the history of the conflict between Christianity and science over evolution in this country and a struggle that is now almost a century old and still unresolved given what I have been reading about in the press.
Martin showed up for the Scopes Trial
Scopes Trial
The Scopes Trial—formally known as The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes and informally known as the Scopes Monkey Trial—was a landmark American legal case in 1925 in which high school science teacher, John Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act which made it unlawful to...
in Dayton, Tennessee
Dayton, Tennessee
Dayton is a city in Rhea County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 6,180 at the 2000 census. The Dayton, TN, Urban Cluster, which includes developed areas adjacent to the city and extends south to Graysville, Tennessee, had 9,050 people in 2000...
, where he rented a store as a book shop on which he hung a giant sign that read promoting his books. Also sold were Martin's "Evolution or Christ," Bryan's "In His Image," Alfred W. McCann's "God--or Gorilla?," and B.H. Shadduck's "Puddle to Paradise." The best sellers proved to be "Hell and the High Schools" and the adventist science educator George McCready Price
George McCready Price
George McCready Price was a Canadian creationist. He produced several anti-evolution and creationist works, particularly on the subject of flood geology...
's "The Phantom of Organic Evolution" (Price was Bryan's main authority in his only speech in court during the trial).
During the trial Martin preached on the streets of Dayton and once cornered H.L. Mencken in the Rhea County Courthouse and demanded to know if he was converted or not. During a second encounter outside of Robinson's Drug Store, Mencken told Martin there was a group of Bolsheviks arriving in town to murder Bryan, which sent the preacher to warn the local police that the ACLU. was sending assassins to kill Bryan and other Christian notables. Martin gave his permit to preach from the public platform one evening to Charles Francis Potter
Charles Francis Potter
Dr Charles Francis Potter was an American Unitarian minister, theologian and author.In 1923 and 1924, he became nationally known through a series of debates with Dr. John Roach Straton, a fundamentalist Christian. The subjects, which Dr...
, provided the Modernist minister did not preach about evolution (Martin was under the same prohibition and Potter made a plea for liberal education as the basis for values instead).
In February 1926 a monkey bill similar to Tennessee's Butler Act
Butler Act
The Butler Act was a 1925 Tennessee law prohibiting public school teachers from denying the Biblical account of man’s origin. It was enacted as Tennessee Code Annotated Title 49 Section 1922...
was introduced in the Mississippi House of Representatives. Martin and others from Washburn's Bible Crusaders arrived to lobby the legislators and the bill passed 76 to 32. In the state Senate there was a heated debate, during which an opponent proposed an amendment to make the penalty "death by burning at the stake, it being the spirit of this bill to restore the Spanish Inquisition
Spanish Inquisition
The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition , commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition , was a tribunal established in 1480 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. It was intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms, and to replace the Medieval...
." The amendment was defeated but the bill passed, 29 to 16, and was signed by Governor Henry L. Whitfield
Henry L. Whitfield
Henry Lewis Whitfield was an American politician who was Governor of Mississippi from 1924 until his death.-Biography:Whitfield was born in Rankin County, Mississippi. He began his teaching career at the age of sixteen...
. While Chancellor Hume of the University of Mississippi
University of Mississippi
The University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, is a public, coeducational research university located in Oxford, Mississippi. Founded in 1844, the school is composed of the main campus in Oxford, four branch campuses located in Booneville, Grenada, Tupelo, and Southaven as well as the...
argued the law would force the state's teachers to be intellectually dishonest, the superintendent of the high school in Meridian
Meridian, Mississippi
Meridian is the county seat of Lauderdale County, Mississippi. It is the sixth largest city in the state and the principal city of the Meridian, Mississippi Micropolitan Statistical Area...
held a public bonfire to burn all pages about evolution from textbooks used in his school. The ACLU offered to assist any Mississippi taxpayer or member of the American Association of University Professors in a suit to challenge the case was ignored given what had happened in Dayton to John T. Scopes
John T. Scopes
John Thomas Scopes , was a biology teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, who was charged on May 5, 1925 for violating Tennessee's Butler Act, which prohibited the teaching of evolution in Tennessee schools...
.
Because of Martin's efforts, and rhetoric in keeping with these anti-evolution writings, Mississippi became one of only two states to pass and keep anti-evolution legislation on the books in the wake of the Scopes Trial
Scopes Trial
The Scopes Trial—formally known as The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes and informally known as the Scopes Monkey Trial—was a landmark American legal case in 1925 in which high school science teacher, John Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act which made it unlawful to...
. The other state was Arkansas and it was that state's law that was the basis of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that anti-evolution laws were unconstitutional in Epperson vs. Arkansas, 393 U.S. 97 (1968).
Martin died on May 23, 1939, and was buried at Gloster, Mississippi
Gloster, Mississippi
Gloster is a town in Amite County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,073 at the 2000 census. It is part of the McComb, Mississippi Micropolitan Statistical Area.T. T...
. On his gravestone was carved the three Scripture texts which were the core of his ministry: John 3:16, Acts 16:31, and John 5:24.