“We will take up the torch as it fell from the hand of William Jennings Bryan,” the Klan declared, as it burned crosses throughout the land in his memory. “America cannot remain half-Christian and half-agnostic.” Thereafter, the Klan lobbied for teaching the biblical story of seven days of creation in public school science classes—a core demand of any politician who expected to get support from the Empire. Acceptance of evolution by young minds, the Klan preached, was part of a Jewish plot.
