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The prosecutor rose from behind his table and approached the jurors with a smile on his face. When he was a few feet away from the end of the jury area nearest his table, he stopped.

He surveyed the jurors for a few seconds, and then he walked to a mid-point, several feet removed from the jurors. Slowly at first, and, then, picking up a little speed, his words began to flow.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you have been very patient and attentive during the last several days of testimony and cross-examination. However, in many ways, your most important task lies ahead of you.

"Now, you not only have the responsibility of making sense of a great deal of information and technical argument, but you also have a duty to come to a judgement about the guilt or innocence of a fellow human being. Such activities can neither be taken lightly by, nor can they, as a result, rest lightly with, any of you.

"I, as the prosecuting attorney, also have duties and responsibilities. Both during the trial, as well as currently, during these closing remarks, I have had the job of putting forth a case, within the limits imposed upon all participants at the outset of this trial, which would provide you, the members of the jury, with sufficient reason to come to the only conclusion which I believe reflects the totality of evidence- namely, that Wayne Robert Corrigan is guilty of teaching material which contravenes well-established principles of evolutionary theory, as well as, of scientific methodology.

"During the evidential portions of the trial, I have attempted to fulfil my task in several ways. First, you have been supplied with materials that constitute the written part of Mr. Corrigan's curriculum, and I believe these materials speak for themselves.

"Secondly, I sought, and secured, the co-operation of one of the world's leading evolutionary biologists, Dr. Alan Ross Yardley. For several days, we all have been enjoying the benefits of being able to listen to an eminently qualified expert talk eloquently, precisely and movingly about his discipline.

"Nonetheless, without, in any way, wishing to diminish the quality or value of Dr. Yardley's participation in these proceedings, there are two points, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, which I would like to bring to your attention. Moreover, these are points with which, I am completely certain, Dr. Yardley would concur were he to be asked his opinion on the matter.

"First, Dr. Yardley is but one individual, among thousands of very qualified and gifted professional scientists, who has been called to give testimony in this case. With all due respect to Dr. Yardley's eminence as a scholar, many, many people could have been asked to give testimony, and each of them would have been able to provide the same kind of standard of excellence and expertise as has Dr. Yardley.

"They could do this because they are part of a community of scientists and researchers who have dedicated their lives and talents to the pursuit of what can be known by human beings on the basis of a disciplined, rigorous and methodical application of reason to human experience in the context of a physical and material world. Any of these researchers and scientists could have substituted for Dr. Yardley, because they all are contributors to, as well as inheritors of, the treasury of accumulated knowledge and wisdom which has been struggled for, through tireless efforts, in the uncharted and, at times, dangerous territories at the frontiers of human understanding.

"One of the reasons these sorts of struggle can be dangerous is because when knowledge and wisdom come, lives which are ruled by ignorance, superstition and habit are threatened. Under such circumstances, historically, the tendency of vested interests that feel threatened is to be reactionary and strike out in harmful ways at those who would have the temerity to throw back the curtains of conceptual darkness which are preventing light from coming into the life of the mind.

"We owe people like Dr. Yardley a debt of gratitude for the way they have stood their intellectual and moral ground, for nearly one hundred and forty years, against people, like Mr. Corrigan, who seek to hold on to the familiar and convenient at the expense of the truth. Courageous individuals from Charles Darwin to Allan Yardley have risked much in order to help humanity to transcend its tendency to become locked into non-productive patterns of intellectual inertia and lethargy."

Mr. Mayfield stepped back a few paces from the place where he had been standing. He began to walk slowly, back and forth, in front of the jury area, using his arms to help give animated expression and emphasis to his words.

"The other point, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, to which I wish to draw your attention, again with no wish to cast aspersions upon the quality of Dr. Yardley's wonderful testimony about, and defense of, evolutionary theory, concerns the following. I don't believe I can adequately stress the importance of understanding that the evidence which was forthcoming from Dr. Yardley during direct examination and cross-examination is but a tiny subset of the amount of information, knowledge, data, experiments, analysis and reflection which bears upon the issue of evolution.

"When one brings together, in dynamic juxtaposition, firstly, the dedicated expertise of the community of scientists and researchers who were the focus of my first point, as well as, secondly, the wealth of understanding concerning evolution which has matured over the last century and a half, which was the focus of my second point, then one cannot help being deeply affected by the strength, depth, richness and sophistication of evolutionary thought. Those individuals, who are among the best, the brightest, the most skeptical, the most rigorously analytical and demanding minds in the history of humankind, have established an inter-subjective consensus concerning the truths at the heart of evolutionary theory.

"I suppose one can forgive the fact there are people who, perhaps as a result of an inadequate or poor quality of education, ask the question: if evolutionary theory is so true, why is it still only a theory? Why don't we raise the epistemological status of evolutionary thought?

"Ironically, the reason for retaining the moniker of "theory" actually has more to do with the integrity of the scientific process than it does with any presumed, tacit admission there is something inherently wrong with this discipline. Although the observational data, facts, experimental results, principles and laws which form the substantive foundations of evolution have been established scientifically and are agreed upon by the community of evolutionary researchers, both past and present, nevertheless, and evolutionary biologists are the first to admit this, there still is much work which needs to be done in order to discover the many things that continue to elude our understanding at the present time.

"None of these unknowns is expected to undermine anything which has been established, and agreed upon, to date. If anything, when these unknowns are discovered and added to the treasure house of our knowledge concerning the process of evolution, they merely will deepen our appreciation and understanding of the complexity and intricacy of nature as it manifests itself through, among other things, evolutionary phenomena.

"Scientists know that as our understanding changes, modifications have to be made in the conceptual framework, model or theory which is being held up as a mirror, of sorts, to natural events. Among scientists there is an awareness of the difference between our understanding of something and the reality, whatever this term may ultimately mean, of that to which our theories are attempting to make identifying reference through descriptions, explanations and so on.

"As Dr. Yardley indicated at one point during cross-examination, science is a work in progress. One can acknowledge this unavoidable truth and, nonetheless, maintain that the conceptual changes which are inevitable are played against a background of fundamental truths whose essence does not change even if the vocabulary through which they are given expression may change with time.

"Quantum and relativistic theory did not alter the truths which had been established previously by science. Rather, these revolutions changed the way we understood, and made use of, what already had been established and known, and, in addition, these ways of thinking helped bring about tremendous contributions to, and the growth of, the repository of human knowledge.

"What disappeared from the intellectual scene in the wake of these revolutions, as they passed through the physics and scientific communities, were the ideas, hypotheses, conjectures, theories and models which were rooted in untenable ways of organizing and interpreting the knowns of science. These revolutions showed more viable, more heuristically valuable, more elegantly fundamental, and more beautiful ways of organizing the knowns of science.

"Evolutionary thought is in the process of effecting the same kind of changes in a variety of biological and associated disciplines. Yet, there are many social, religious, political and philosophical forces which are attempting to resist, and interfere with, efforts to proceed with the exploration, and expanding, of the horizons of human understanding.

"We need to be very clear in our focus on these matters. We need to understand that if people such as Mr. Corrigan are permitted to teach anything they like- no matter how much it may fly in the face of well-established scientific facts, principles and knowledge, then we are doing a great disservice to our children and future generations of children.

"To permit the Wrong-way-Corrigans of the world to ply their trade in our classrooms will lead to the development of only confusion, ignorance, and scientific illiteracy among students. To allow individuals such as Mr. Corrigan to indoctrinate children with a dogmatism that can only corrupt and diminish human potential, is to abandon the fiduciary responsibility to humanity which each and everyone of us has by virtue of coming into this world as human beings.

"People such as Wayne Corrigan wish to interpose themselves between their students and the community of scientists and say: I know better than these experts and professionals who have dedicated their lives to mastering their disciplines. People like Wayne Corrigan have dropped the gauntlet before society and belligerently pronounced: I refuse to pass on the legacy of understanding and knowledge that has been bequeathed to students by the researchers of the scientific community.

"The Wayne Corrigans who live among us have a tendency to envision themselves as courageous individuals who are fighting the lonely battle against the forces of repression which, in this case, are allegedly being perpetrated by science, in general, and evolutionary theory, in particular. In reality, all too frequently, these individuals are merely caught up in their own megalomania and wish to entangle everyone else, and especially vulnerable students, in their delusions as well.

"Individuals like Wayne Corrigan have no viable alternatives to offer to evolutionary theory. Instead, they prefer for all of humanity to sit idly about, twiddling its collective thumbs, and saying: but you evolutionary scientists haven't proved this relatively minor point or you haven't demonstrated that minor point.

"They ignore the scope, power, value, beauty, elegance, richness, and productive capacity of evolutionary thought, and, consequently, these individuals wish to jettison these important aspects of our cultural manifest, as so much jetsam, in order to save the conceptual ship which they believe is in imminent danger of floundering amidst the rocks of moral turpitude which they associate with scientific activity.

"They are like Don Quixote's evil twins who are flailing away at imaginary windmills but who do so for something other than noble-albeit, rather excessively and romantically misguided- idealistic purposes. Instead, they won't be happy until everyone thinks in the same profoundly limited and superficial fashion as they do.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the choices before us are fundamental in character. We can proceed into the unknown with people of rigorous and methodical dedication like Dr. Yardley who may not have all the answers but who are committed to finding them, or we can proceed into the future by returning to a regressive and dogmatic past like people such as Mr. Corrigan who believe they have all the answers, and, therefore, there is nothing left to discover.

"I have confidence in your ability to make the correct and courageous choice and, consequently, I believe you will endorse the People's belief that Mr. Corrigan is, indeed, guilty of teaching material that conflicts with established principles of both science and evolutionary theory. I beseech you to find Mr. Corrigan guilty and establish a precedent for which history and our children will be eternally in your debt.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I wish to thank you, again, for your time and consideration. I know you will faithfully fulfil your duties and responsibilities with respect to the matter which is before the court."

Mr. Mayfield nodded his acknowledgement of thanks and returned to his seat. As he sat down, he poured himself a glass of water and began to drink from it.

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