Church and State

In middle school I was already a believer in evolution, but my belief was rightly cemented (as was my disgust for Christians) by reading "Inherit the Wind" in the 7th grade, a play that tells the tale of the Scopes monkey trial. My favorite character was the wise-cracking H.L. Mencken character, who fires broadside after broadside against the caricatured rubes of Tennessee and was responsible, in part, for me ultimately becoming a journalist (a responsibility, I should add, for which I'm not exactly thankful).