The East Tennessee Report

Interview with Frank Murphy

As a former pastor, Michael Dowd is a great interviewee. As the interviewer, all I had to do was ask a few simple questions, reset who the guest was at regular intervals and make sure the show ended on time. Dowd, the author of "Thank God for Evolution", could have easily filled the half-hour without me.

To say that I was extremely enthusiastic about the topic would be an understatement. The idea of The Great Story, or Evolutionary Epic, fascinates me. I have long believed in both the concept of creation and the facts of evolution. Simply put, six of God's days equal about 14 billion of our years.

Pastor believes acceptance of evolution can deepen devotion to God

By J.J. Stambaugh

The Rev. Michael Dowd describes himself as a Christian evangelist, albeit one who believes that spreading the word of Darwin is vital to the health of Christianity.

Dowd believes the purported dichotomy between science and religion that fuels much of the debate about evolution must be overcome, and he will be discussing that topic Tuesday at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church on Kingston Pike.

"God didn't stop revealing truths vital to human well-being back when people believed the world was flat and religious insights were recorded on animal skin," Dowd said. "God is still revealing today through the worldwide, self-correcting scientific process.

Is Darwinism close to Godliness? Here’s one reverend who thinks so.

By Rikki Hall

You’ve seen the fish medallion, a symbol of Jesus Christ, and you’ve seen the version with legs and “Darwin” on it. Keep your eyes peeled this weekend for a van with the two painted on its side, dolloped with lipstick, kissing. The van belongs to a husband-and-wife team that has spent six years traveling around North America delivering the good news of evolution.

“We love the feeling of migrating,” says Rev. Michael Dowd, likening the couple’s travels to the wanderings of ancient nomadic tribes. Dowd last visited Knoxville in 2006 as a featured speaker at the University of Tennessee’s Darwin Day, and this week both Dowd and his wife Connie Barlow will speak at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.

God and evolution: One evangelical minister says the two go hand in hand

by Leslie Boyd

 As a conservative, evangelical Christian, the Rev. Michael Dowd once was furious when he heard evolution discussed by his peers.

God created the Earth in six days and rested on the seventh. That was all there was to it.

Then, in 1988, he was introduced to Thomas Berry, and within 30 minutes, his view of the universe and the sacred had changed profoundly.

Book Review by Alli Marshall

“Although none of this world history is mentioned in the Bible, no historian alive today would deny the following: Before Moses was born and before the story of Adam and Eve was written, southeast Asians were boating to nearby Pacific islands; Indo-European charioteers were invading India; China, under the Shang Dynasty, entered the Bronze Age; indigenous people occupied most of the Western Hemisphere; and the Egyptian empires age of pyramid building had come and gone.” So writes author and reverend Michael Dowd in the introduction to his book, Thank God for Evolution: How the marriage of science and religion will transform your life and our world (Viking, 2007).

Three books on how religion and evolution can coexist

"Evolutionists Flock to Darwin-Shaped Wall Stain," ran a recent headline in the satirical newspaper the Onion. The picture showed breathless biologists worshiping a Shroud-of-Turin-like apparition of Charles Darwin's face on a concrete wall.

Darwinian fundamentalist mystics among us? Well . . . probably not. All the same, it's getting hard to tell the players without a scorecard in America's most peculiar culture war: the battle between evolution and its enemies.

Where Darwin meets Genesis

By Marni Pyke

In 1925, the Scopes monkey trial generated headlines, hoopla and hate between proponents of teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution in schools and those who called it blasphemous.

It wouldn't be the last time questions of faith have divided the body politic as overtones of religion in this year's presidential contest show.

The Rev. Michael Dowd wants to change that.

Evolutionary evangelist brings together science and religion

MUSKEGON - To paraphrase Mark Twain, the dispute between science and religion has been greatly exaggerated. In fact, according to Rev. Michael Dowd, that dispute may not even exist.

Dowd, author of ‘Thank God for Evolution', brought his traveling evolutionary roadshow to Muskegon's Harbor Unitarian Universalist Congregation this past week, aiming to surprise even the most certain theists and hardened atheists with his notion that science and religion aren't mutually exclusive enterprises.

In fact, Dowd contends the two must co-exist if humans are to have any chance of survival.

Interview with Michael Dowd

“Being ‘in integrity’ or ‘in Christ’ is being wholly aligned with the smaller and larger creative wholes of our existence.”  

by Barbara Stahura

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 Li’l 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.

Minister preaches 'Gospel of Evolution'

by Samara Kalk Derby 

Michael Dowd, an ordained Christian minister and author of the recent book "Thank God for Evolution: How the Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform Your Life and Our World," told a Madison crowd Monday night that nothing matters more than what we think about evolution.