Michael Dowd
Why Evangelize Evolution?
I’m often asked, “Why do you evangelize evolution? What ‘good news’ does science offer?” The following response is my 2011 New Year’s gift to all.
* * *
I used to be confused by many aspects of the world, including my inner world. Thanks to an embrace of big history as my creation story, I no longer am. I now have a depth of understanding that saints and sages down through the ages, including the biblical writers themselves, never imagined possible.
I used to struggle with temptations and what I considered “sinful habits” of thought and behavior, which often left me feeling guilty, resentful, or resigned. But since coming to appreciate the challenges of living with mismatched instincts in a world of supernormal stimuli, today I enjoy a freedom and peace and lightness of being that is unspeakably divine. For me, heaven isn’t something I’m holding out hope for after I die. It’s where you’ll find me 98% of the time, even in the midst of whatever happen to be the disruptions of the day.
When I was an idolater of the written word, I was filled with fear for family and friends—fear that they’d be tortured forever by an allegedly loving God for having the wrong beliefs. Later, my fear shifted to concern for the kind of world my grandchildren would inherit. Today, a joyful passion for life and a compulsion to leave a positive legacy have replaced fear. I’m now filled with easy acceptance and trust when I think about loved ones, expectant curiosity when I look to the future, and deep gratitude and peace when I think about my inevitable death and the death of those I care about.
When I was a Bible-centered Christian, I knew I had the right answers. If other people suffered, well…it was really their own fault. Today I feel compassion for those who struggle, and I am committed to doing everything I can to help bring about a just and healthy future for all. More, I’m motivated to do this not from a place of fear, but from a place of possibility and gladness that I’m related to everyone and everything and that I’m part of something emerging that is of planetary and cosmic significance.
All of this—gratitude, trust, and inspiration (replacing guilt, resentment, and fear)—all of this was made possible mostly just by having the eyes to see and ears to hear what God is revealing through science. It’s come from embracing the science-based history of physical evolution, biological evolution, and cultural evolution as my creation story, my sacred story—as The Great Story.
So the reason I evangelize evolution is twofold. I want others who are now confused or feeling guilt, resentment, resignation, or fear, to have for themselves the joy, peace, love, trust, and gratitude that comes from growing in right relationship to Reality, or “getting right with God.” And I want to spread the good news that billions of years of patterned cosmic and biological evolution (and cultural evolution) are on our side: propelling our species to move through this crisis of adolescence into maturity.
How inspiring to think that right now, through scientific and historical evidence, God is speaking volumes and is thereby intimately guiding humanity!
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
VIDEO: Evolutionize Your Life: Heaven Is Coming Home to Reality – This is the essence of the gospel I preach in all religious and non-religious settings. I delivered an early version of this program at the United Nations in April 2009. If you experience only one thing on this page beyond the above post, I recommend watching this 75-minute program when you can do so uninterrupted and without multitasking. 
Evolution Isn’t About Darwin—It’s About Salvation Before You Die
Evolutionary Spirituality: Coming Home to Reality
NHPTV Documentary: “One-on-one with Michael Dowd”
The Salvation of Religion: From Beliefs to Knowledge
The Trajectory of Human History: Ever-Expanding Cooperation and Compassion
Big History: The Teaching Company course by David Christian
The Empathic Civilization & Age of Empathy
Evolution and the Revival of the Human Spirit
Thank God for the New Atheists!
Your Brain’s Creation Story – podcast
Idolatry of the Written Word – podcast
A Deep-Time Model of Transformation – podcast
Good and Bad Reasons for Believing – by Richard Dawkins
Doomsayers Beware, a Bright Future Beckons (I highly recommend Matt Ridley’s latest book, The Rational Optimist, which John Tierney writes about in this NY Times column.)
The Symbiotic Man: A New Understanding of the Organization of Life and a Vision of the Future – by Joel DeRosnay (One of the top 10 books I’ve ever read)
Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny – by Robert Wright (Another one of the top 10 books I’ve ever read)
Evolution’s Arrow: The Direction of Evolution and the Future of Humanity – by John Stewart (Still another “top 10″ book)
Is This The Meaning of Life? – John Stewart (make sure you see resources listed at the end of this post)
Sr. Miriam MacGillis’s 1986 “Fate of the Earth” presentation – This program has awakened thousands to a sacred view of cosmic, Earth, biological, and human history as humanity’s common creation story. Even today, more than two decades later, this talk by Sr. Miriam, along with Brian Swimme’s slender volume, The Universe Is a Green Dragon, are considered by many to be the best introductions to “The Great Story” and the significance of Thomas Berry’s work.
Biblical Christianity Is Bankrupt - My public debate with Dr. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, over the radical difference between traditional/biblical (belief-based) faith and evidential/evolutionary (knowledge-based) faith.
Evolution as Meaningful, Inspiring Fact – links to the best wiki pages and books
TheGreatStory.org – Leading Epic of Evolution educational website, managed by Connie Barlow
Epic of Evolution – Helpful educational website, managed by Cathy Russell
Cosmic Resources for Educators – Epic of Evolution resources, compiled by Ruth Rosenhek and John Seed
strange to think that the whole of the cosmos
might be multi-historied, multi-dimensional
strange to imagine that our universe, seen
and unseen, might be pear-shaped point-to-point-in-spacetime
yet and located in eternity
one indeed might ask: how can this be?
the bridge to be built is the one that walks me
back and forward Home
truth and the good news – all news can be good -
is sought and found in dark and silent encounter
one that is filled with wonder and gratitude
one that is being emptied first
something awesome converges
in a moment of time
and beyond time
it is peace and justice
in the at once great sinner and poor saint alike
things going pear-shaped
are not necessarily disaster
and chaos?
a! the moment of surrender to unknowns
and the hallmark of creativity
deo gratias
Love your poetry, thank you for sharing it with us
you are most welcome Linda
Thank You Michael for making this whole series possible. I spent my Advent learning about Holy Waiting and Sacred Change. My once anxious heart feels the deep sense of peace; it seems to be a paradox to waiting and change. I have 3 adult children that are modern atheists…indeed they are God’s Prophets. They are unafraid of marbled ceilings holding empty thoughts and tiny experiences. The universe is their teacher and they are mine.
Wow, thanks for your amazing comment, Karen!
a cosmic-human reality
i know when i have nothing left
hit rock bottom
am most wretched
then and only at that precious moment
am i Saved
i don’t like it much but there it is
such is my reality
if Christ is all in all
true selfhood-contained
with eyes full of sorrow thro’ His eyes full of love
then am i too so contained
such is my reality
and more there is the universe
at once expanding and containing
straining at the edges of human being
and there is being human
pushing the boundaries of the eye of God
such is reality it seems
this original dance of life
so finely tuned and wild beyond measure
deo gratias
Thanks, again, Gabrielle, for your awesome and inspiring poetry!
and again we say rejoice
Although I am not creatheist, but a panentheist, and in some aspects a conservative Roman Catholic, I do absolutely love and appreciate a lot of what you have offered and keep offering. The Advent of Evolutionary Christianity in many aspects has made me love God more in a very deep spiritual level. Thank you for everything.
We thank God too for the fact that life reaffirms itself in the most wonderful ways. Let’s praise God and embrace Him in every manifestation of light in this world, and let’s say “Amen” to the ever-majestic and fruitful story of creation.
Amen, Pedro!
I’m curious, what do you see as the difference(s) between a creatheistic view and a panentheistic one? (I’m not aware of any, which is why I ask.)
At least panentheism (as I understand it) makes a clear ontological distinction between God and the physical world. Of course, God contains the whole universe and exists in everything. However, the reason I don’t subscribe creatheism is not that I’m clear how it can be distinguished from panentheism, but because I do *not* understand exactly the difference. (Of course, I can’t subscribe to things I don’t understand). At least some of your diagrams and representations in another of your websites seem to suggest that there is a difference between creationism and panentheism (and pantheism too). I don’t really understand completely the ontological relationship between God and the universe. I know that you say that God is “Ultimate Reality”, and that in a way God includes all things, but in some other way transcends all things. Maybe you can clarify this for me.
Please, don’t think that I am rejecting your entire proposal. Your book has touched my heart in so many ways I can’t even begin to describe. Also you have expressed a lot of what I’ve been thinking about for the last 10 years or so. Also, at a personal level, I’ve learned to love Connie and you very much. But there is the philosopher and the (amateurish – wannabe) theologian in me who ask precisely about some ontological aspects of your theology. I bet I’m not the first person to say that there is air of “ontological ambiguity” in your creatheist proposal.
Michael, I think one difference between creatheism and panentheism relates to something you write on page 130 of _Thank God for Evolution_, that Ultimate Reality, whatever it may be exactly, is not “an invisible being up there somewhere”. From this phrase, I understand you (if I understand you correctly) saying that the only way Reality manifests itself is either in the form of matter (quarks, atoms, molecules, etc.), energy (photons, e.g.), or ideas, thoughts, and feelings. What matter, energy, and mental factors all have in common is that they undergo change, alteration, and evolution. However, in this understanding of Reality, there is no “thing” that is beyond change, beyond alteration, beyond evolution. (And, of course, if there is such a “thing”, it would not be a “thing” at all!)
Panentheism, however, would say that Reality exists in both evolutionary and non-evolutionary ways. That which is beyond evolution, beyond change, does exist. And That is both “within” the smallest quark, and “without”, or beyond, that largest universe. (Traditional theism would argue for That being simply totally beyond, and not within.)
No, that’s actually not what I mean, Angi. It would be foolish of me to try to argue about the nature of Ultimate Reality. I would certainly never be so arrogant as to claim that there is surly no changeless dimension to Ultimacy (the largest nested Creativity), or God.
Thanks, Michael, that’s good to know. Your definition of creatheism as involving the idea that the Whole is creative, and that this Whole is creative in an emergent, nested sense, certainly can include the idea of a Transcendent (a Transcendent not discoverable, and not deniable, by science) that is the foundation of this emergent, nested creativity. On the other hand, creatheism (stressing the “atheism” part) can also mean something else. The Whole could simply be the whole universe(s) of matter, energy, and thought, involving no Transcendence (as defined as that which is non-changing, non-evolutionary), and yet being very creative, very loving, very purposeful.
I would say you evangalize evolution to make money off of it – am I right? Come on now be honest, you are doing it for the $$$.
Linda,
Great question! Given all the slimy, greedy preachers and evangelists in the world, I can hardly blame you for asking. But as all who know us can attest, we are hardly in this for the money. In fact, quite the opposite!
For 9 years my wife, Connie Barlow, a noted science writer, and I have been effectively homeless, and we give away more than we sell.
We permanently travel North America (we don’t have an RV, we live with people in their homes as we travel in “Angel”, our Dodge Sprinter). We speak to groups of all sizes, ages, and backgrounds, sharing the science-based history of physical, biological, and cultural evolution in the most inspiring and empowering ways that we know how. To say it in evangelical Christian language, I show people how our best evidential understanding of the history of everyone and everything (what 98% of the scientists of the world would agree with) can be understood and experienced in “God-glorifying, Christ-edifying, scripture-honoring” ways.
We offer our programs free of charge. Many groups give us a small honorarium but we don’t require or request it. The main way we have supported ourselves for these 9 years is by selling our books and DVDs at the back of the room after our talks, with a self-serve table. We trust people to make their own change and not walk off with stuff; but of course some do—and that’s okay with us).
We not only give people the right to freely burn as many copies of our DVDs as they’d like (scroll down and see last bullet point in gray box), but our policy has always been (and I say this at the end of virtually all my sermons and seminars): “If you can’t afford to buy one of our books or DVDs and you really want it, just take it, or pay whatever you can. We just want to get the word out.” Not surprisingly, quite a few people take me up on this offer (especially in a time of economic recession).
For the first five years of our traveling ministry we even took IOUs! We only stopped this practice after we had more than $7,000 in outstanding unpaid IOUs. (That’s also, not coincidentally, when we started taking credit card payments.)
When my book, Thank God for Evolution: How the Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform Your Life and Our World, first came out with Council Oak Books, the publisher generously allowed me to make a PDF of the entire book freely available online. More than 3,200 people downloaded it for free. Understandably, however, when a big New York publisher (VIking/Plume: Penguin), bought the rights they would not allow me to continue giving the entire book away—only the first two chapters.
Our Great Story website is the leading education site in the movement. We don’t charge for any of it. Check out the wonderful stuff we have for kids, families, and teachers, and for ministers and worship leaders. Connie has spent literally thousands of hours creating all this and we give it all away free of charge because, well, that’s what we feel called to do.
With respect to this Evolutionary Christianity teleseries, Connie and I have each been spending an average of 75 hours a week on it since mid-November, and have not made one penny in the process.
So no, Linda, as you can see we’re certainly not in it for the $$$. I teach and preach “the gospel according to science” because (to use traditional religious language) I love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength—and because I love the entire body of life as my larger ‘Self’. (Connie would use less religious language but shares the same sentiment.)
All this, combined with just living one day at a time “in Christ”, that is, in integrity—i.e., having no secrets, no resentments, and no unfinished business—is why I don’t have to wait and die in order to dwell in heaven.
I pray the same for you and your loved ones.
Sincerely,
~ Michael
May I recommend my book? It is called:
Abel Emerging: A Reconsideration of the Christian Story for a Sustainable World, by Ron Rude (Beaver’s Pond Press, 2010). http://www.abel-emerging.com
The book explores what Christianity might look like if we gladly embrace evolution, and if we set aside the notion of “human exceptionalism.”
Looks great, Ron. Thanks for the head up. I’ll check it out. In fact, I just recommended your book on my facebook page.
I was amazed to read your way of doing business.You truly are a Man of God. I admire you and your wife. Thank you for renewing my faith in God and in man.
Thank for your generous comment, Margaret!
I am truly amazed and in awe of your answer. I’ve read 150 books on evolution… and always hoped that someone (like you and Connie) would come along and put science and religion in their appropriate relationship with each other. The more I learn about the science of evolution and the origin of life… the more the pieces to the puzzle come together – well… I have this sense of spirituality growing, that all this couldn’t have simply “started by itself.” But, we needed a special person to come along. Not a Stephen Jay Gould. Anyway, it seems you both have gained traction, have gotten the ball moving – but only after a hurculean effort, which I recognize when you laid it out there. So… you are “the people” who did it. Certainly lives well spent . . . BTW, keep swimming in those warm afternoons!
Thanks for the encouraging words, Frank!
Steve Gould was special in a different way, I’d say. We all have our gifts in the body, and our limitations.
Thanks again for your generous comment.
Michael, i was really touched by you and Connie’s genuine spirit of surrender. You are a true disciple and friend of Christ, to use the ‘old’ language. in more modern vernacular, i witness your wholesome committment to fully embody the grace and compassion of the Beloved. i am moved.
blessings and peace
nancy
Wow, thanks for your generous comment, Nancy!
Great definition of integrity—no secrets, resentments, or unfinished business. Thanks for the witness and model. I know I’m inspired!