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  • Bestselling Author Preaches Bold Science-Based Gospel


    Ventura County Star

    The Rev. Michael Dowd, author of the bestseller Thank God for Evolution: How the Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform Your Life and Our World, will give a free lecture based on his book on Sept. 27 at California Lutheran University.

    "I hope to help attendees celebrate facts as God's native tongue and to truly get that scientific, historic, and cross-cultural evidence reveal God's word for today far more accurately than the Bible could ever hope to," Dowd said. "And if Moses, Jesus, or the Apostle Paul were alive today, they'd be the first ones to shout 'Amen!' to this."

    Accessible to all faiths and non-believers, the program is geared for teens and adults and is similar to what Dowd delivered last year at the United Nations.

    Dowd served as a United Church of Christ minister for nine years in Massachusetts, Ohio and Michigan. He and his wife, Connie Barlow, a science writer and family educator, launched an itinerant ministry in 2002 and have since spoken to more than 1,500 groups as "America's evolutionary evangelists."

    He believes his upcoming talk is important because "idolatry of the written word has rendered the church deaf, dumb, and blind to what God's been faithfully revealing through evidence the past 200 years," Dowd said. "Consequently billions of human beings not only don't appreciate the evolutionary significance of religion and religious differences, their inner GPS is so wildly out of date that it's no wonder they suffer and struggle needlessly. Their views of history, death, and human nature are not aligned with reality."


  • Evolution doesn't have to clash with Christianity, author tells CLU crowd


    Ventura County Star

    The concept of evolution doesn't have to clash with Christianity, and may even serve to strengthen faith.

    That was the message of the Rev. Michael Dowd and his wife, science writer Connie Barlow, who call themselves "America's evolutionary evangelists" at a lecture Tuesday in Thousand Oaks.

    Dowd began as a United Church of Christ minister in Massachusetts, then launched his own ministry with his wife of 10 years. The two travel across the country in a van featuring two fish — one with the word "Jesus" and the other with the word "Darwin."

    "That got us some interesting looks in the more conservative parts of the country," Dowd said. About 150 people attended the Tuesday night presentation at California Lutheran University, prompting organizers to bring in three extra stacks of chairs.

    Dressed in slacks and a shirt with the name of one of his books "Thank God for Evolution" on the back, Dowd spoke to the crowd while clicking through a Power Point presentation. The talk was called: "Thank God for Evolution — Science as Modern Day Scripture."

    Dowd told the audience that throughout time, religion has helped human beings define what's real and what's important. It gives humans a sense of personal purpose and social cohesion.

    "In ancient times, religions provided beliefs because they didn't have knowledge," he said.

    Now, we do have knowledge in the form of science, he said, and churches need to evolve. Dowd believes that rather than eclipse or lessen the presence of God, scientific knowledge backed by evidence helps to strengthen the concept of God.

    "We are going through what I call an evidential reformation," Dowd said.

    Evolution, he said, links us with the cosmos. Billions of years ago, stars died and the periodic table of the elements was born, followed by atoms, cells, multicelled organisms, reptiles, animals, humans, family groups, tribes, and so forth — an awe-inspiring process.

    "If that's not God, I don't know what is," Dowd said.


  • 'Evolutionary' Christians to Discuss Science as Divine Revelation


    The Christian Post

    Attempting to show that science doesn't have to be a threat to religion, a diverse panel of "evolutionary" Christians will discuss evolution and the Christian faith in live online seminars beginning Saturday. 

    The six-part series will draw speakers from across the theological spectrum, including BioLogos Foundation's Karl Giberson, representing an evangelical viewpoint, and the emergent church's Brian McLaren.

    Michael Dowd, author of Thank God for Evolution, will host of the series entitled, "The Advent of Evolutionary Christianity."

    Speaking to The Christian Post, Dowd said he hopes the roundtable discussions will present science as God's way of divine communication to this generation.


  • Evolution conference invites us all to a 'new beginning'


    National Catholic Reporter

    The Monastics of the Desert didn't have anything to say about New Year's resolutions but they had a lot to say about life. "Abba Poemen said of Abba Pior" one collection of early records report, "that every day he made a new beginning."

    Monasticism, we can see, is an ancient spiritual tradition with an eye for wisdom. Obscured as this new year may be by an era of financial fear, personal pain, and the struggle to survive, this new year is also, ironically, a time crying for great creativity and change. We are in need of ‘a new beginning' on multiple levels.

    The news media, however, long a bellwether of society's deepest concerns, has become more and more torpid by the day.


  • Minister hopes to promote Christian discussion of evolution via webinars


    Associated Baptist Press

    FREELAND, Wash. (ABP) -- A self-proclaimed "evolutionary evangelist" will launch an online series of roundtable discussions for Christians to talk about evolution and the future of their faith on Jan. 15. 

    The six-part seminar, titled The Advent of Evolutionary Christianity: Conversations at the Leading Edge of Faith, will feature 38 Christian leaders and scientists in a dialogue about how evolutionary theory can deepen rather than challenge faith.

    "Science-rejecting creationism and faith-rejecting atheism are not the only games in town," says Michael Dowd, series host and author of the best-selling book Thank God for Evolution. "Tens of millions in the middle -- represented by the amazing diversity of thought leaders participating in this teleseries -- see no conflict between faith and reason, heart and head, Jesus and Darwin."


  • Author's Corner: Reverend Michael Dowd


    Capitol Weekly

    The Reverend Michael Dowd is one of the leading voices in the Evolutionary Theology movement and the author of "Thank God For Evolution."

    You were once a fundamentalist Christian who believed the earth was 6,000 years old. What made you change your mind?

    I came to see that God has been revealing truth in the last 200 years that the biblical writers couldn't possibly known. Things like extinctions-98% or more of the species that once existed are no longer here. Moses couldn't have known that. That's a genuine revelation.


  • 'Evolutionary evangelist' to speak in Bellevue


    Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    michaeldowdkissyfishy.jpg

    No matter how you look at it, it's hard to deny: Throughout much of the world, science and religion are vicious opponents.

    Rev. Michael Dowd wants to change all that.

    The "evolutionary evangelist" and author of "Thank God for Evolution" doesn't just embrace scientific thinking -- he argues that scientific facts reveal the work of God.

    Before he speaks at various Bellevue churches in a couple weeks, Dowd took a little time to answer some questions.


  • Michael Dowd on The Sheena Metal Experience


    LA Talk Radio

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  • Michael Dowd is bringing his message to Ashland


    Ashland Daily Tidings

    Traveling evangelist Michael Dowd is bringing his message to Ashland that it's possible to believe in God and evolution at the same time.

    Author of "Thank God for Evolution: How the Marriage of Science and Religion will Transform Your Life and Our World," Dowd says as a young man he believed in a literal interpretation of the Bible that God created the world in a short period of time several thousand years ago.


  • Evangel Alumnus Believes in Evolution and Creationsim


    KSMU | Ozarks Public Radio

    Written by Erika Brame

    » Listen

    Where do we come from and how did we get here?
    These are questions people have pondered for centuries.
    One man has written a book on how two seemingly opposite views can become one.

    KSMU's Erika Brame spoke with the author and one of his critics.