The focus of Inherit the Wind is the external conflict between Brady and Drummond. The conflict has been referred to as "the legal battle of the [twentieth] century." Brady, the prosecuting attorney, is on the side of creationism. He is fighting in favor of the Butler Law, which prohibits teaching evolutionary theory in public classrooms in Tennessee. Drummond, Cates' defense attorney, is on the side of evolutionism. He is opposed to the Butler Law because the freedom to think is jeopardized when knowledge is censored.
At one time, the men had been good friends. They admired and understood each other until their opposing beliefs caused them to become adversaries. The conflict between Brady and Drummond is resolved in the play. Brady wins the trial, and Drummond wins a moral victory. Because Cates stood up for what he believed — that it is right to teach evolutionary theory to students — a bad law was "smashed" and Cates has "helped the next fella" who decides to stand up and fight.
The conflict between Brady and Drummond is not just a conflict between two men and their beliefs. Their battle represents conflicts that exist within American society — for example, the continuing conflict between evolutionism and creationism, modernists versus fundamentalists, church versus state, and agnosticism versus faith. Conflicts arise when people do not value or respect differing beliefs. Lawrence and Lee use the conflict between Brady and Drummond to convey the need to fight for the freedom to think and the need to respect differing perspectives.
