I just finished a really good bio of WJ Bryan. Both the final chapter of the book & his life, Dayton, play into this religion/politics stuff.
The sad thing about Scopes was how it caricatured Bryan as some sort of chronically proselytizing goon. While his performance in Dayton, as the Great Hope of Fundamentalism, was very embarassing it doesnt give any credit to how, for so much of his career, the only part religion played in his politics was as the foundation of his morals.
And yet, not much less than a century later, Bush Jr has been something of a chronically proselytizing goon with often horrid results. For whatever reason his caricature has not been drawn; somehow his dismal performance (and even waning support among Christians) has not stopped 2008 GOP hopefuls from massaging the empty heads of those Fundamentalists left disappointed by Bryan in Tennessee.