Jesus Loves Darwin

You’ve likely heard that today is the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. Charles Darwin was also born 200 years ago today. Two extremely influential men of the 19th century and beyond. Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species was published 150 years ago, establishing evolutionary descent as the dominant scientific explanation for natural diversity. But it’s still bitterly debated. A new Gallup poll shows that only 39 percent of Americans say they "believe in the theory of evolution." Some religious faiths decry evolution for contradicting the story of Creation as outlined in the book of Genesis in the Bible.

That’s what the Reverend Michael Dowd grew up believing as a Roman Catholic. In 1979, Reverend Dowd converted to a Christian fundamentalist worldview. For several years he denounced Darwin and helped distribute anti-evolutionary tracts. But over the course of a decade he came to believe that evolution is, in his words, “the great story of 14 billion years of divine grace and creativity. ” Since 2002 he and his wife, science writer Connie Barlow, took to the road to preaching that gospel.

His new book is called Thank God for Evolution: How the Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform Your Life and Our World. He joins us to talk about the relationship between Jesus and Darwin.