“Inherit The Wind” May be Stuart’s Ultimate Faith

According to his wife in a Facebook post, Chris Collins derives his authority and makes his decisions through the intersession of Jesus.

Jacklyn Collins was responding to a post on Facebook that asked, “What makes Collins a force?” Mrs. Collins replied, “Jesus.”

Two of America’s greatest early 20th century court room attorneys battled it out in the 1925 Scopes criminal trial about teaching evolution. Clarence Darrow was for the defense and William Jennings Bryan helped the local prosecutor. Bryan had run for the presidency three times. He was a populist Democrat who also claimed to be an expert on the Bible.

In a surprise move, Darrow called Bryan to the stand as just such an expert. Bryan was someone who took the Bible literally. Darrow read different passages and Bryan refused to back down from his literal reading of the verses even when the quoted passages defied logic. As Darrow proceeded in his examination, Bryan looked and sounded more unhinged.

Finally, Darrow said, “I am exempting you on your fool ideas that no intelligent Christian on earth believes.” Bryan was visibly shaken and died of a cerebral hemorrhage soon thereafter. The trial ended with Scopes’ conviction.

William Jennings Bryan was a great orator. He truly always believed in helping the regular men and women on the farms and prairies of America’s heartland. His “Cross of Gold Speech” deploring the nation’s gold standard and its consequences on those people should be read even today by all in public office.

Though he believed in taking the Bible literally, Bryan never believed Jesus was giving him advice. Jesus did not provide him some temporal authority over others that entitled the “Great Commoner” (one of Bryan’s nicknames) to run roughshod. His talent may have derived from God, but he didn’t claim that Jesus was whispering in his ear.

When I was a kid if someone heard voices, they could claim to be one of two things… a future saint or a crazy person. I doubt whether Chris Collins is a future saint. And I don’t believe he is a crazy person. His is a calculating Christian who seeks to derive maximum benefit for the intended…named Collins.

Collins preaches a type of Christianity that is devoid of actual charity or kindness. He is a devotee as the pharisees were in word but not in deed. I think he believes he will bring about his version of the Kingdom of God to Stuart and all of Martin County. He is far from converting me to his flock.

A fictionalized play and a movie based on the Scopes trial starring Spencer Tracy and Frederick March was titled “Inherit the Wind.” The title was based on Proverbs 11.29: “Whoever troubles his own household will inherit the wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise of heart.” The household of Stuart is now broken thanks to Collins and his two assistants.

It is a shame that he and some other elected officials think that they will rule this county as a theocratic autocracy. No dissent will be tolerated. And that, fellow citizens, is the word according to Collins.