Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee write the play, Inherit the Wind. It is based upon the Scopes (monkey) trial of 1925. Henry Drummond is the defense attorney for Bertram Cates. While Matthew Harrison Brady is the prosecuting attorney. Cates was on trial for teaching the theory of evolution, rather than the popular majority choice of creationism, to his sophomore class. When speaking to Brady, Drummond says, "An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral." This best demonstrates the theme of the play by showing the importance of thought and progress.
             The theme of Inherit the Wind is democracy, the right to think. When Drummond wasn't allowed to call any of his witnesses to the stand, he was hopeless. And in his desperation he came up with an idea to bring "the Prophet from Nebraska" himself up, Matthew Harrison Brady. In the midst of explaining his reasoning for belief in Darwin, the Origin of Species, he says something that illustrates the significance of thought. "An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral." What Drummond means is that an idea can move mankind ahead in their struggle for adaptation to the ever-changing world. Meanwhile, religion is a nice thing when it can comfort and soothe, but to rely solely upon it will hold you back. Previously in the play, when Drummond is questioning Howard, a student of Cates, he asks him something that helps further prove the point of thinking. "You figure a tractors sinful, because it isn't mentioned in the Bible?" If we were to directly follow the Bible there would be no tractors, or even telephones for that matter. Human beings possess the capability of thought, in order to better themselves as a person, or a society. Drummond is merely stating that a cathedral or a Biblical story is nice, but an idea is far more important than anything is. This quote correlates to the play well because it str
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