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Barbara Stahura
Freelance Writer
Freelance Writer
Evolutionary Evangelist: Interview with Michael Dowd
Originally published in Science of Mind, September 2008
A Michael Dowd presentation on evolution is unlike any other talk on the subject. Complete with breathtaking photos of space from the Hubble telescope along with a drawing of our four-part brain labeled with animals representing “Lizard Legacy,” “Furry L’il Mammal,” “Monkey Mind,” and “Higher Porpoise,” Dowd’s lively lectures are proof that evolution can be understood in a way that bridges religious differences. Thousands of people across the country have heard and embraced his message, and his book, Thank God for Evolution! continues to spread the good word.
Once an anti-evolution fundamentalist, Dowd later became a minister in the United Church of Christ before he shifted into interfaith sustainability work and community organizing. Along the way, he came to embrace what he calls “a process theology understanding of evolution.” When he met science writer Connie Barlow, an atheist who had written two books about evolution from a scientific point of view, they discovered their shared passion for a sacred understanding of cosmic history. They married in June 2001.
“Three months later, the World Trade Center was attacked,” he wrote in his book. “We were living north of New York City at the time, and Connie had been planning to attend a scheduled meeting in Tower No. 1 the morning of September 12. As with so many around us, the collapse of the towers moved us to think deeply about our priorities and life purpose.
“A few weeks after 9-11 we were watching the final episode of the PBS television special, Evolution: A Journey into Where We’re From and Where We’re Going. The episode was titled “What About God?” It examined the struggle many conservative Christian college students have in trying to embrace both evolution and a pre-evolutionary interpretation of their faith. As the program ended, Connie turned to me and said, ‘You need to be out there speaking to students. You need to show people how an evolutionary understanding can enrich their faith!’”
This had been Dowd’s dream for a decade. So the newlyweds soon made a life-changing decision: they gave up whatever possessions they could not carry in a van and became itinerant “evolutionary evangelists,” traveling wherever they are invited to speak on the Great Story, the epic of evolution over the 14-billion-year history of the Universe. A decoration on the back of the van playfully reflects their marriage and their message: a Darwin fish and a Jesus fish kissing, with little hearts floating up from the liplock.
Their presentations combine science and religion in ways that delight and entertain as well as enlighten and awe. As Dowd wrote in his book, “science and religion can be mutually enriching.” People of many faiths and of no faith typically leave Dowd’s and Barlow’s presentations with a new understanding of how the sacred is being revealed through science as well as a new understanding of evolution as a sacred, cosmic process with deep meaning that offers real hope for the future of our fragile world.
Science of Mind: You and Connie call yourself evolutionary evangelists. What does that mean?
Michael Dowd: To evangelize is to share or to proclaim the good news of something. And so we proclaim the good news of evolution--that is, a sacred, meaningful interpretation of the history of the Universe. This Great Story is inspiring, and it gives us a sense of how things have evolved to this place that allows us to be present to the challenges of our moment and our time, and look to the future with a sense of hope and possibility. Not some otherworldly hope—you know, Jesus the Cosmic Janitor saving us from the mess we’ve made--but a realistic, grounded, this-world hope. A hope that we not only can but are likely to make the kinds of changes we will need to make to move into a just, healthy, sustainable future. It doesn’t mean there won’t be tremendous challenges and chaos and breakdowns—there will be—but those, as we also know throughout evolutionary history, have been the primary drivers of creativity and transformation.
SOM: Your concept of evolution goes far beyond the Darwinian concept of survival of the fittest.
MD: It includes a Darwinian understanding, yes, but evolution also includes cosmic and human history as well. Facts must always be interpreted, and interpretations almost always have a spin, one way or the other. For example, one can take the same basic fact, which is that life continues because creatures eat other creatures, and that can be interpreted in a sort of gruesome way— “nature red in tooth and claw,” or “survival of the fittest.” Or one can interpret the same facts as the entire body of life is in a state of holy communion. God is always saying, “Take, eat, this is my body, which is given for you.” So when we use the word “evolution,” what we mean is not merely the evolution of life forms by natural selection. We’re also talking about the evolution of galaxies, this solar system, planet Earth and its geological structures, and also the evolution of life and human cultures for the last two and a half million years.
SOM: What is it about your telling of the evolutionary story that helps people of all faiths, and those with no religious faith, to embrace it as they have?
Originally published in Science of Mind, September 2008
A Michael Dowd presentation on evolution is unlike any other talk on the subject. Complete with breathtaking photos of space from the Hubble telescope along with a drawing of our four-part brain labeled with animals representing “Lizard Legacy,” “Furry L’il Mammal,” “Monkey Mind,” and “Higher Porpoise,” Dowd’s lively lectures are proof that evolution can be understood in a way that bridges religious differences. Thousands of people across the country have heard and embraced his message, and his book, Thank God for Evolution! continues to spread the good word.
Once an anti-evolution fundamentalist, Dowd later became a minister in the United Church of Christ before he shifted into interfaith sustainability work and community organizing. Along the way, he came to embrace what he calls “a process theology understanding of evolution.” When he met science writer Connie Barlow, an atheist who had written two books about evolution from a scientific point of view, they discovered their shared passion for a sacred understanding of cosmic history. They married in June 2001.
“Three months later, the World Trade Center was attacked,” he wrote in his book. “We were living north of New York City at the time, and Connie had been planning to attend a scheduled meeting in Tower No. 1 the morning of September 12. As with so many around us, the collapse of the towers moved us to think deeply about our priorities and life purpose.
“A few weeks after 9-11 we were watching the final episode of the PBS television special, Evolution: A Journey into Where We’re From and Where We’re Going. The episode was titled “What About God?” It examined the struggle many conservative Christian college students have in trying to embrace both evolution and a pre-evolutionary interpretation of their faith. As the program ended, Connie turned to me and said, ‘You need to be out there speaking to students. You need to show people how an evolutionary understanding can enrich their faith!’”
This had been Dowd’s dream for a decade. So the newlyweds soon made a life-changing decision: they gave up whatever possessions they could not carry in a van and became itinerant “evolutionary evangelists,” traveling wherever they are invited to speak on the Great Story, the epic of evolution over the 14-billion-year history of the Universe. A decoration on the back of the van playfully reflects their marriage and their message: a Darwin fish and a Jesus fish kissing, with little hearts floating up from the liplock.
Their presentations combine science and religion in ways that delight and entertain as well as enlighten and awe. As Dowd wrote in his book, “science and religion can be mutually enriching.” People of many faiths and of no faith typically leave Dowd’s and Barlow’s presentations with a new understanding of how the sacred is being revealed through science as well as a new understanding of evolution as a sacred, cosmic process with deep meaning that offers real hope for the future of our fragile world.
Science of Mind: You and Connie call yourself evolutionary evangelists. What does that mean?
Michael Dowd: To evangelize is to share or to proclaim the good news of something. And so we proclaim the good news of evolution--that is, a sacred, meaningful interpretation of the history of the Universe. This Great Story is inspiring, and it gives us a sense of how things have evolved to this place that allows us to be present to the challenges of our moment and our time, and look to the future with a sense of hope and possibility. Not some otherworldly hope—you know, Jesus the Cosmic Janitor saving us from the mess we’ve made--but a realistic, grounded, this-world hope. A hope that we not only can but are likely to make the kinds of changes we will need to make to move into a just, healthy, sustainable future. It doesn’t mean there won’t be tremendous challenges and chaos and breakdowns—there will be—but those, as we also know throughout evolutionary history, have been the primary drivers of creativity and transformation.
SOM: Your concept of evolution goes far beyond the Darwinian concept of survival of the fittest.
MD: It includes a Darwinian understanding, yes, but evolution also includes cosmic and human history as well. Facts must always be interpreted, and interpretations almost always have a spin, one way or the other. For example, one can take the same basic fact, which is that life continues because creatures eat other creatures, and that can be interpreted in a sort of gruesome way— “nature red in tooth and claw,” or “survival of the fittest.” Or one can interpret the same facts as the entire body of life is in a state of holy communion. God is always saying, “Take, eat, this is my body, which is given for you.” So when we use the word “evolution,” what we mean is not merely the evolution of life forms by natural selection. We’re also talking about the evolution of galaxies, this solar system, planet Earth and its geological structures, and also the evolution of life and human cultures for the last two and a half million years.
SOM: What is it about your telling of the evolutionary story that helps people of all faiths, and those with no religious faith, to embrace it as they have?
