After World War I, American society changed dramatically. The economy was thriving, the stock market was booming, and consumerism was at an all-time high. In addition, people migrated from rural to urban areas, leaving the conservative farmers with dwindling power. These changes fostered an atmosphere in which time-honored mores were questioned. Modernists — those who adapt their faith to contemporary trends in the sciences, philosophy, and history — embraced the changes taking place in America. Fundamentalists, on the other hand — those who believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible — clung to traditional beliefs.
Amidst the fast pace of the 1920s, people sought stability and fought to maintain a conservative lifestyle; as a result, the fundamentalist movement experienced a revival. Fundamentalists turned their attention to issues regarding the infallibility of the Bible in matters concerning science and history. Their focus became Darwin's theory of evolution, which espouses that species evolved over time through natural selection — a theory that is in direct opposition to the fundamentalist belief in the Biblical story of creation. Although teaching evolution in public schools was standard practice in the 1920s, fundamentalists initiated a movement to stop what they considered to be heretical teaching (that is, teaching that differed from their beliefs) and encouraged legislators to pass laws forbidding the teaching of evolution in public schools.
