Thank God for Evolution - book review

Well, folks, the war is over. Those who are lined up one of the two sides: [(1) fundamental Christian "young earth" proponents and (2) atheist/agnostic scientists evolution proponents] should lay down their notebooks and put away their pulpits because the war is over.

According to Michael Dowd in his "Thank God for Evolution" 98% plus of reputable scientists in fields where it definitely matters agree that evolution is a fact, the earth is billions of years old, and there are several plausible mechanisms for driving evolution, the most popular of which are natural selection and sexual selection, neither of which requires the intervention of God. Dowd a man of god, an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ has, in tried and true fashion followed, the admonition "if you can't lick 'em, join 'em" - sort of. By clever redefinitions, Reverent Dowd elevates God from creator of the universe to "the universe" greater than which there is nothing. The Theory of Evolution, he conflates with The Good News or today's Gospel.

I like his definition of God's words to single persons such as Moses, Abraham, Peter, Paul (and dare I add Joseph Smith, Brigham Young) as "private revelation" as it cannot be duplicated no matter how you try to recreate the conditions which brought about the revelation. "Public revelations" on the other hand are facts (not speculations or assumptions) observed by many people over time and space which can be duplicated when the conditions are recreated. With such definitions Dowd points out that public revelation has grown apace and seems to be heading for greater information than we had ever dreamed possible. Private revelation, on the other hand, has all but ceased with only one major church still claiming it. And that which was given has become frozen into scripture where it can become all but useless unless reinterpreted in light of public revelation.

By clumping together both camps and changing definitions, Reverend Dowd will probably not make many friends except in the liberal Christian community who really do want to get along with those scientists who can still believe in the spirit if not the letter of scripture. And there are probably some of these scientists who really want to remain religious. But Dowd is not really worried about conversions or building up a great congregation which believes as he does. He's more interested in the insights that we can gain (and that he can explain in his seminars) as to why people act the way they do (evolution answers many of the questions) and what we can do to grow past these problems (again evolution suggests the answers).

The book is not a difficult read and even if you never get past the part which encourages reinterpretation of private revelation in light of modern public revelation, you will still have gained a great return for your efforts.