The predominant theme in Inherit the Wind is freedom of thought. Cates, like Scopes, is arrested for violating the Butler Law, which prohibits teaching evolutionary theory in public schools in Tennessee, effectively censoring what could be taught in public school classrooms. Drummond, Lawrence and Lee's voice throughout the play, fights passionately against censoring knowledge. When knowledge is censored, the right to think is limited. Drummond is adamant about everyone having the right to think. When Brady accuses Drummond of " . . . destroying everybody's belief in the Bible, and in God," Drummond responds, "You know that's not true. I'm trying to stop you bigots and ignoramuses from controlling the education of the United States."
Another issue important to Lawrence and Lee is tolerance for different or conflicting beliefs. At the conclusion of the play, Hornbeck continues to denounce Brady after his death. Drummond vehemently tells him that, ". . . You have no more right to spit on his religion than you have a right to spit on my religion! Or my lack of it! . . . Brady had the same right as Cates: the right to be wrong!"
