Science Luminaries Praise TGFE

Click HERE to see endorsements from 6 NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING SCIENTISTS.

How (Not for Whom) I'm Voting on November 4

Yesterday I received a short essay in my email inbox that perfectly spoke my mind and heart regarding the upcoming American presidential election. It was written by a friend and colleague, Rev. Jim Burklo, a United Church of Christ minister, leading voice within Progressive Christanity, and author of Open Christianity: Home by Another Road and the recently released, Birdlike and Barnless: Meditations, Prayers, and Songs for Progressive Christians. Jim has graciously allowed me to re-post his inspiring, prophetic piece below. If you like what you read, pease visit Jim's blog, Musings, as well as the website for The Center for Progressive Christianity. You'll find lots of great stuff in both places!

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I'm voting on November 4 not just for myself, but for my friends Jenny and Peter and their children in Sweden, my friend Angel and his family in Mexico City, and for many people around the world whose names I don't know - hundreds of millions of them with a strong opinion of whom they want to be president of the United States. Their hopes and fears hinge on how I choose to vote. I'm voting to restore America's severely damaged reputation, and renew our nation's much-needed leadership for progress, decency, and freedom around the world.

I'm voting to preserve the new-found right of same-sex couples to marry. As a pastor, I have seen the tears of joy of two men as they stood before me and made their wedding vows. It is hard for me to imagine anyone voting to deny such couples the legal right to marry, after having witnessed such a blessed event.

I'm voting for a strong, sensibly-managed, sparingly-used military. I'm voting for carrots now and sticks later. I'm voting for going many extra miles to let aggrieved nations and their leaders feel respected, even if we don't like them, even if it requires America to eat some humble pie, if it can advance the cause of peace.

I'm voting for an end to the "war" on terror...

Waking Up to the Evolutionary Message of Our Times

The following is a guest blog post written by my dear friend and colleague, Tom Atlee, author of The Tao of Democracy and founder and research director of the non-profit Co-Intelligence Institute.

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We are clearly in crisis mode. How many times have you thought, we're on new ground?  Things are not working the way they used to. We need to radically change the way we do things.  We need to consciously evolve ourselves and our social systems.

The current crisis in our financial and governance systems is clearly revealing how these systems we've created now tie us all into invisible but extremely dense webs of interdependence.  We are now fully bound to each other, by virtue of our own creations.  This interdependence is both the problem and the solution to the crises we face.  Furthermore, within the unfolding crises are the very energies we need to make the change.  We just need to wake up to that fact.

Here are four vital truths to help us do that -- truths that are vividly obvious from a sacred, participatory evolutionary perspective.

Evolve or Perish

We are at a turning point in human history. The quality of this century and beyond will be determined largely by how how quickly we are able to come into integrity -- that is, how well we learn from and align with Life's One Great Law: evolve or perish.

It's no coincidence that we are facing what many commentators suggest is a Perfect Storm of crises: the global economy, climate change, terrorism, health care, the collapse of biodiversity and fisheries around the world, and a host of other educational, social, political, environmental, moral, and ethical challenges. Simply put, we are confronted by Reality. The future of civilization depends on if, and how quickly, our personal worldviews and the structure of our institutions come into alignment with this Reality.

Integrity (coming into right relationship with Reality at all nested levels – what religious people call 'getting right with God') truly is everything. It's the only thing that ultimately matters. The main reason I am so evangelistic about evolution is this: Without a deep-time, developmental worldview, it is simply impossible to understand what integrity is – much less know how to live it.

Consider: Our current systems of governance, economics, education, and religion all came into being long before a natural, measurable way of understanding the nature of reality was available—that is, before any human group could possibly answer life's biggest questions in scientifically compatible ways. Who are we? Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going? How are we to live?

Of course, each of the world's enduring religious traditions provides subjectively meaningful answers to these questions. But prior to telescopes, microscopes,computers, and global communications, subjectively meaningful answers would not have been objectively aligned with the way things really are.  

"I'm a Human With Mismatched Instincts"

 UPDATE: In August 2009, Michael Dowd's wife, Connie Barlow, posted a half-hour PODCAST on this topic, titled "Your Brain's Creation Story"

A few days ago, for my evening workshop at Renaissance Unity, I decided to add several more slides on evolutionary psychology into my standard evening program. One of the new slides had this as its only text. "Hi, my name is Michael and I'm a human with mismatched instincts."

This statement is, of course, my evolutionary rewrite of the standard way of introducing oneself at a 12-step meeting. It evoked audience laughter, yet it also shows that the evolutionary sciences can indeed enrich not only the faith traditions but also the recovery movement. The evolutionary sciences thus offer a perspective through which those who need help might more readily be willing to receive it. As I like to say, "It's not your fault. But it is your responsibility." That is, the reason we can so can easily fall to addictions of all sorts is that our ancestors lived in very different environments than surround us today. What was there, after all, to become addicted to 10,000 years ago?  

Making Death Right

 UPDATE: Michael Dowd and Connie Barlow riffed on the topic, "When Death Gets Personal" in their half-hour PODCAST in August 2009