Although the World Series and the French War Debt have sent evolution, Dr. Scopes, and the now-famous "Monkeyville" from the limelight in the popular imagination into the shades of oblivion, an echo of last summer's controversy will be heard here Thursday night when Dr. John Roach Straton will speak at the Phillips Brooks House on "The Battle Over the Bible." The Scopes case and the publicity which it received in the American press are expected to play a large part in Dr. Straton's presentation.

Prominent among the scientists who offered their services in defence of Dr. Scopes was Professor Kirtley Fletcher Mather, Associate Professor of Physiography in the University. In the outline of evolution which the scientists prepared and submitted, Professor Mather, attempted to prove that none of the facts of evolution should be disturbing to the adherent of Christianity. Professor Mather is a student of the Bible and has lectured on it at Boston University.

Thinks Mather's Evidence Vunerable

That this evidence, and particularly the report submitted by Professor Mather, is "very vulnerable," is the opinion of Dr. Straton. He goes on to urge that a debate should be arranged in Cambridge between himself and Professor Mather. He says, in part: "The fact that he is a prominent figure in both the scientific and religious worlds would make him a very appropriate person to figure in such a discussion, especially as the anti-evolutionists had no chance to answer him and the other scientists at Dayton."

Dr. Straton has long been prominent in the country as a leader of the Fundamentalist group in religious controversy. He is the author, among other works, of "The Virgin Birth--Fact or Fiction," "The Dance of Death--Should Christians Indulge?", "Our Relapse Into Paganism", and "The Fall of the Hall of The Age of Man" The last of these is described as "standing revelations concerning the musty old bones that have been juggled and manipulated to prove that man descended from the brutes."

Christian Can Accept Evolution

As a Christian as well as a geologist, Professor Mather finds no difficulty in accepting the theory of evolution, and believes that the apparent contradictions in the Bible to any such theory can be explained with simplicity. He believes that the only significance of such a work as Genesis is to present the spiritual truth about God and the origin of the universe, and that it should be regarded as a textbook of biology. He goes on to say, in the report of his evidence given at Dayton:

"The idea of evolution does not dethrone the idea of God in any reasonable mind, for evolution is not a power, not a force; it is a process a method. God is a power, a force: He necessarily uses processes and methods in displaying His power and exerting force.

"If men are offered a choice between science with its unanimous acceptance of the evolutionary principle, and religion with its necessary appeal to things unseen and unprovable, they are much more likely to abandon religion than to abandon science, and if such a choice is forced on the people, the churches will lose many of their best educated young people, those upon whom they must depend for leadership in the coming years.

"Fortunately such a choice is absolutely unnecessary, to say that one must choose between evolution and Christianity is exactly like telling the child as he starts for school that he must choose between spelling and arithmetic. Thorough knowledge of each is essential to success both individual and racial in life.

"Although it is possible to construct a mechanical evolutionary hypothesis which rules God out of the world, the theories of theistic evolution held by millions of scientifically trained Christian men and women lead inevitably to a better knowledge of God and a firmer faith in His effective presence in the world.

Charges Ignorance of the Bible

"There are a number of reasons why sincere and honest Christians have recently come to distrust evolution. * * * Too many people who loudly proclaim their allegiance to the Book, know very little about what it really contains.

The Bible does not state that the world was made about 6,000 years ago. The date 4004 B. C., set opposite Genesis 1:1 in many versions of the Bible, was placed there by Archbishop Usher only a few centuries ago. It is in the footnotes added recently. It is not a part of the book itself.

Creation Week may Have Been Eons