Ruth Johnson

Michael Dowd, a traveling reverend, will speak at SHSH on how the theories of God and evolution really go hand-in-hand.

Two hundred years from the day that Charles Darwin was born, and around 150 years after the publishing of "The Origin of Species," Dowd will be presenting evolution in the context of religion.

Dowd was raised in a Roman Catholic home but as he grew older he moved on to a more fundamentalist Christian outlook. He went to an evangelical college, and afterward got his bachelor's at a Northern Baptist school. His ideas on God were changing as he learned more about Him. He became an evangelical preacher, and married Connie Barlow.

Barlow, a noted science author and athiest, has traveled with her husband to 45 out of the 50 states since 2002 preaching an understanding of evolution that they call "beyond biology or belief."

They believe in spreading this word so faithfully, that they even sold their house and live in a motor home to travel and teach. Before SHSU, they were in Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana. So, his book and travelling ministry aim to "give a voice" to a growing movement that doesn't see a conflict between religion and science.

"The words 'God' and 'evolution' are pointing to the same divine creative process," he said. "Both help us answer the question, How did we get here? One uses the night language of religion- the other the day language of science."