Finally, the war between science and religion is over. The winner? All of us. With supporters from an incredibly wide spectrum of backgrounds and beliefs, including five Nobel laureates, Thank God for Evolution! [by the Rev. Michael Dowd] builds bridges, provides guidance, and restores realistic hope for humanity and the body of life as a whole.

A movement has been growing over the past few decades that takes our common creation story -- the epic of cosmic, biological, and human evolution revealed by science -- as the basis for a meaningful view of our place in the universe. … Dowd, America's evolutionary evangelist, is at the forefront of this movement. This well-informed, thoroughly researched, and inspired book proclaims a gospel billions of years old.

By David Ian Miller

The evolution-versus-creationism debate is one of those perennial hot-button issues, like abortion and school prayer, that almost invariably leads to polarization. It seems as if you either think there's a place for teaching a biblical perspective in the schools, as many fundamentalist Christians contend, or you believe evolution, grounded in scientific fact, is the only paradigm worth exploring.

Michael Dowd is an itinerant preacher who believes he has found a middle path that transcends and includes both camps. For the past three years, Dowd, a nondenominational Christian minister, and his wife, science writer Connie Barlow, have been driving across the country, stopping at Christian and Unitarian Universalist churches, Jewish synagogues, Quaker meeting houses and Buddhist meditation centers to teach religious audiences about evolution. Their goal is to present a story of the universe, which they call the "great story," in a way that people -- whatever their spiritual orientation -- can embrace.

Michael Dowd is on a mission from God–the God of Evolution, that is. A former evangelical minister and protégé of the great Thomas Berry, Dowd travels around the United States spreading what he calls a new gospel (aka: The Great Story or Evolutionary Christianity), an all encompassing cosmic story that he hopes will serve as the basis for a new and universal spiritual mythos capable of bridging the gap between science and religion, faith and the future of the humanity. In this exclusive Unbound interview, Dowd speaks with Carter Phipps about his work, his life on the road (for the last four years!), and his vision of a great Wilberian transcend-and-include flip he hopes will help propel us from a “my God vs. your God”, “my belief vs. your fact” world into one where a higher unity founded on evolutionary truths, awe-inspiring scientific fact, and yes—religious order—might one day prevail.

Click here for audio and video clips.

A Christian – Once an Anti-evolutionary Fundamentalist – Now Hears the Message of God in the Unfolding Evolutionary Process of the Universe

Listen to this radio interview here. 

Michael Dowd, author of the forthcoming book, Thank God for Evolution! : How the Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform Your Life and Our World, Dowd was raised a Roman Catholic, but later moved to fundamentalist Pentecostalism.  As a student at Evangel College, he was sure that Satan had taken over when he discovered that a biology text included a discussion of evolution.  His views changed as he conversed with colleagues he respected and with a Buddhist monk who impressed him with his “Christian” behavior.

Today, he and his wife, Connie Barlow (a science writer), travel the country preaching evolutionary theology and spirituality.  They have no home, but drive a trailer and live where they find hospitality.