Book Review by Fr. Mervyn Fernando
The Sri Lanka Island
The occasion of the bicentenary of Darwin's birth (Feb 12, 2009) is bound to rekindle the Science vs. Religion debate, or more accurately Science vs. Christianity debate, since the other major religions, notably religions in our part of the world, Buddhism and Hinduism, were not historically involved in it. It is therefore a happy surprise to see Revd. Michael Dowd's Thank God for Evolution (the title itself is startling for a traditional Christian) hailed as the final answer to the problem. The 2006 Nobel Prize Winner in Physiology/ Medicine, Craig Mello makes bold to say, "The science vs. religion debate is over. Michael Dowd masterfully unites rationality and spirituality in a worldview that celebrates the mysteries of existence and inspires each human being to achieve a higher purpose in life. A must read for all, including scientists". The other numerous enthusiastic commendations of the book by prominent scientists, philosophers and theologians, running into 6 pages of small print, are in the same vein.
Reverend brings outside the box ideas to town
The Pasadena Citizen
By Yvette Orozco
When the Rev. Michael Dowd travels throughout the United States, he has a simple message: keep an open mind.
Dowd, an ordained evangelical preacher, and his wife, Connie Barlow, an avowed atheist and science author, will be in Pasadena at 7 p.m. today, speaking at Yoga Rasa at 800R Spencer Highway.
The event is part of the couple's Gospel of Evolution Roadshow stop in the Houston area through February.
Religion vs. science debate coming to The Woodlands
The Montgomery County Courier
By Kassia Micek
An evangelical preacher has embarked on a nationwide tour to teach and preach evolution from God's view.
The Rev. Michael Dowd, author of "Thank God for Evolution," and his atheist wife Connie Barlow, a science writer, have been traveling North America nonstop since 2002 to present Dowd's 90-minute presentation "The Gospel According to Science: Evolutionary Good News." Dowd will be at Northwoods Unitarian Universalist Church, located at 1370 N. Millbend Drive in The Woodlands, at 7 p.m. Wednesday as part of nine stops in the Houston area.
"I'm helping people see God at work in ways they're not used to seeing God at work," Dowd said. "Every scientific discovery is God's revelation of what's real or the truth.
Untrivializing God
Jackson Free Press
by Ronni Mott
Finding common ground for the world's religious fundamentalists may be the most important step the human race can take in the 21st century. Without it, it may be impossible to move toward a combined global effort to end terrorism and address global ecology.
It is in that spirit that Michael Dowd, a progressive Pentecostal Evangelical minister, defines his mission in the world. His book, "Thank God for Evolution" (Viking, 2007, $24.95), reframes both evolutionary theory and religious fundamentalism in a way that elevates both and diminishes neither. He and his wife, noted science writer Connie Barlow, travel around the country talking about why evolution is not a threat to fundamentalism, and can actually make God a more powerful, more spiritual presence in the lives of all religious people.
The East Tennessee Report
WWST-FM Knoxville
Interview with Frank Murphy
As a former pastor, Michael Dowd is a great interviewee. As the interviewer, all I had to do was ask a few simple questions, reset who the guest was at regular intervals and make sure the show ended on time. Dowd, the author of "Thank God for Evolution", could have easily filled the half-hour without me.
To say that I was extremely enthusiastic about the topic would be an understatement. The idea of The Great Story, or Evolutionary Epic, fascinates me. I have long believed in both the concept of creation and the facts of evolution. Simply put, six of God's days equal about 14 billion of our years.
Pastor believes acceptance of evolution can deepen devotion to God
Knoxville News Sentinel
By J.J. Stambaugh
The Rev. Michael Dowd describes himself as a Christian evangelist, albeit one who believes that spreading the word of Darwin is vital to the health of Christianity.
Dowd believes the purported dichotomy between science and religion that fuels much of the debate about evolution must be overcome, and he will be discussing that topic Tuesday at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church on Kingston Pike.
"God didn't stop revealing truths vital to human well-being back when people believed the world was flat and religious insights were recorded on animal skin," Dowd said. "God is still revealing today through the worldwide, self-correcting scientific process.
Is Darwinism close to Godliness? Here’s one reverend who thinks so.
Knoxville Metropulse
By Rikki Hall
You’ve seen the fish medallion, a symbol of Jesus Christ, and you’ve seen the version with legs and “Darwin” on it. Keep your eyes peeled this weekend for a van with the two painted on its side, dolloped with lipstick, kissing. The van belongs to a husband-and-wife team that has spent six years traveling around North America delivering the good news of evolution.
“We love the feeling of migrating,” says Rev. Michael Dowd, likening the couple’s travels to the wanderings of ancient nomadic tribes. Dowd last visited Knoxville in 2006 as a featured speaker at the University of Tennessee’s Darwin Day, and this week both Dowd and his wife Connie Barlow will speak at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.
God and evolution: One evangelical minister says the two go hand in hand
Asheville Citizen Times
by Leslie Boyd
As a conservative, evangelical Christian, the Rev. Michael Dowd once was furious when he heard evolution discussed by his peers.
God created the Earth in six days and rested on the seventh. That was all there was to it.
Then, in 1988, he was introduced to Thomas Berry, and within 30 minutes, his view of the universe and the sacred had changed profoundly.
Book Review by Alli Marshall
Asheville Mountain Xpress
“Although none of this world history is mentioned in the Bible, no historian alive today would deny the following: Before Moses was born and before the story of Adam and Eve was written, southeast Asians were boating to nearby Pacific islands; Indo-European charioteers were invading India; China, under the Shang Dynasty, entered the Bronze Age; indigenous people occupied most of the Western Hemisphere; and the Egyptian empires age of pyramid building had come and gone.” So writes author and reverend Michael Dowd in the introduction to his book, Thank God for Evolution: How the marriage of science and religion will transform your life and our world (Viking, 2007).
