‘Inherit The Wind’ was written in the early 1950s and intended as an allegory of McCarthyism as such it takes brazen liberties with the actual events of the 1925 trial.
Inherit the Wind: an historical analysis
Inherit the Wind—which starred Oscar winners Jack Lemmon and the late George C. Scott—is the fictionalized account of the famous Scopes ‘monkey trial’ of Dayton, Tennessee. But almost all of the scientific evidence brought forward during the time of the trial has been discarded.
There was another very disturbing thing about Inherit the Wind. It caricatured Christians as self-righteous, intolerant and mean-spirited. The two leading Christian characters in the film rant like lunatics much of the time.
The film did get one thing right. It is indeed a ‘crime’ (to use their word) to censor an opposing view in the classroom. This lesson has been lost on secular humanists today who attempt to censor any evidence contrary to their dogmatic belief in evolution.
For Christians, the lesson to be learned is that we must be able to give answers for our faith. After all, Christianity is a logical, defensible faith.
The Crucible was also an allegory for “the Red Scare” although it predates McCarthyism (Miller saw other such “abuses” before Sen. McCarthy came on the scene).
Now you could restage The Crucible to investigate the issue of Nifongism.