Reverend Michael Dowd and his wife Connie Barlow are nomadic evolutionary
evangelists who have been on the road since 2002, speaking to more than 2,000
audiences. In their reality, evolution and
religion are not in conflict; both can happily sit next to each other on the
same pew. A primary goal of their
mission is teaching folks about sustainability.
For them, right relationship to reality is what ultimately matters. We must be in right relationship with the
soil, water, and life of this planet. If
we don’t get right with reality, we’re going to perish.
Their Grace Limits webpage
provides links to an impressive collection of information on sustainability,
including books, essays, and videos.
Dowd has read a number of books and essays aloud, recording them as MP3
files (with the authors’ permission).
They are available to download, free of charge. Some of the books he has recorded include Overshoot by William
Catton, The Green
History of Religion by Anand Veeraraj, Afterburn by Richard Heinberg, The Lessons of History
by Will and Ariel Durant, Learning
to Die in the Anthropocene by Roy Scranton, and four books by John
Michael Greer.
A root issue is the rejection of science — separation from
reality. Among fundamentalist
Christians, 76 percent do not believe in evolution, 58 percent do not believe
in climate change, and 77 percent deny that the universe is billions of years
old. According to 41 percent, we’re now
living in the End Times, so there is no point in worrying about the health of
creation. The future doesn’t matter. Religious youth are abandoning faith in
record numbers. Rates of teen pregnancy,
obesity, spouse abuse, and porn addiction are highest in the most religiously
conservative, Bible-centered parts of America.
I was impressed by how far Dowd’s thinking was from the
perplexing theology I struggled with in my youth. For example, Reality
Reconciles Science and Religion is an 18-minute TEDx talk he gave in 2014. He tells us that he is an evolutionary
theologian, or a big history evangelist.
He teaches the gospel of right relationship with reality — especially
factual realism. Reality is my god. Evidence is my scripture. Big history is my creation story. Ecology is my theology. Integrity is my salvation. Ensuring a just and healthy future is my
mission (for the entire family of life).
HERE is info
on Dowd’s book, Thank
God for Evolution: How the Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform Your
Life and Our World.
