by Brandon Keim 

The Rev. Michael Dowd is preaching a surprising message: Evolution is real and science points to the undeniably reality of God.

For the last five years, the author and former evangelical pastor has lived out of a van with his wife, crisscrossing the nation to deliver the good news.

His latest book, Thank God for Evolution!, drew endorsements from five Nobel laureates and dozens of religious leaders. With the battle between science and religion at a fever pitch, it couldn't come at a better time. Just last week Texas papers reported that a curriculum director had been fired in October for forwarding information about an evolution lecture to friends and colleagues.

Dowd wasn't always an evolution proselytizer. Presented with an evolution textbook on his first day of biology classes at Evangel University, he stormed out and told his roommate that Satan had a foothold in the Christian school. But after encountering the teachings of Catholic eco-theologian Thomas Berry, Dowd embraced what's known as evolutionary theology.

Wired News spoke with Dowd by phone about science, religion and his belief that "a holy understanding of evolution will usher the world's religions into their greatness in the 21st century."

by Jordan Bartel

When Michael Dowd started college, he thought evolution was of the devil.

So he was shocked when a biology professor at the Assemblies of God-affiliated Evangel University in Springfield, Mo., held up a textbook Dowd recognized as one teaching evolution. That day he proclaimed to his roommate, "Satan obviously has a foothold in this school."

Fast-forward nearly three decades and Dowd, who just turned 49, is one of the leading proponents of the marriage of science and religion, a so-called - and at first thought oxymoronic - evolutionary evangelist. To Dowd, science is no longer the enemy.

"I've come to understand that science is a sacred endeavor," he said. "Science is revelatory."

Dowd's latest book is titled "Thank God for Evolution!" The exclamation point is apt, for Dowd is excited about accepting both religion and evolution into his life. The book has won acclaim from both the science and religious communities, earning raves from Nobel Prize winners and prominent ministers.

'Evolutionary evangelists' laud aspects of Creation Museum

By Peter Smith

PETERSBURG, Ky. -- They call themselves "evolutionary evangelists" -- an ordained minister and a science writer who travel full time to proclaim the "kick-butt good news" of evolution.

They travel in a van decorated with a symbol of their gospel: The popular image of the Jesus fish kissing a bumper-sticker parody of that image -- a Darwin fish sprouting feet.

The Rev. Michael Dowd -- author of the new book "Thank God for Evolution!" -- and his wife Connie Barlow, an author of four books on evolution, believe that after years of quarrel, science and religion can kiss and make up.