DRUMMOND

Never read it?

BRADY

And I never will.

DRUMMOND

Then how in perdition do you have the gall to whoop up this holy war against something you don’t know anything about? How can you be so cocksure that the body of scientific knowledge systematized in the writings of Charles Darwin is, in any way, irreconcilable with the spirit of the Book of Genesis?

BRADY

Would you state that question again, please?

DRUMMOND

Let me put it this way. (He flips several pages in the book) On page nineteen of Origin of Species, Darwin states—

(DAVENPORT leaps up.)

DAVENPORT

I object to this, Your Honor. Colonel Brady has been called as an authority on the Bible. Now the “gentleman from Chicago” is using this opportunity to read into the record scientific testimony which you, Your Honor, have previously ruled is irrelevant. If he’s going to examine Colonel Brady on the Bible, let him stick to the Bible, the Holy Bible, and only the Bible!

(DRUMMOND cocks an eye at the bench.)

JUDGE

(Clears his throat)

You will confine your questions to the Bible.

(DRUMMOND slaps shut the volume of Darwin.)

DRUMMOND

(Not angrily)

All right. I get the scent in the wind. (He tosses the volume of Darwin on the counsel table) We’ll play in your ball park, Colonel. (He searches for a copy of the Bible, finally gets MEEKER’S. Without opening it, DRUMMOND scrutinizes the binding from several angles) Now let’s get this straight. Let’s get it clear. This is the book that you’re an expert on?

(BRADY is annoyed at DRUMMOND’S elementary attitude and condescension.)

BRADY

That is correct.

DRUMMOND

Now tell me. Do you feel that every word that’s written in this book should be taken literally?

BRADY

Everything in the Bible should be accepted, exactly as it is given there.

DRUMMOND

(Leafing through the Bible)

Now take this place where the whale swallows Jonah. Do you figure that actually happened?

BRADY

The Bible does not say “a whale,” it says “a big fish.”

DRUMMOND

Matter of fact, it says “a great fish”—but it’s pretty much the same thing. What’s your feeling about that?

BRADY

I believe in a God who can make a whale and who can make a man and make both do what He pleases!

VOICES

Amen, amen!

DRUMMOND

(Turning sharply to the clerk)

I want those “Amens” in the record! (He wheels back to BRADY) I recollect a story about Joshua, making the sun stand still. Now as an expert, you tell me that’s as true as the Jonah business. Right? (BRADY nods, blandly) That’s a pretty neat trick. You suppose Houdini could do it?

BRADY

I do not question or scoff at the miracles of the Lord—as do ye of little faith.

DRUMMOND

Have you ever pondered just what would naturally happen to the earth if the sun stood still?

BRADY

You can testify to that if I get you on the stand.

(There is laughter.)

DRUMMOND

If they say that the sun stood still, they must’ve had a notion that the sun moves around the earth. Think that’s the way of things? Or don’t you believe the earth moves around the sun?