[126]“EVOLUTIONARY EVANGELISM” TOPIC OF TALK AT MTSU LIBRARY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 29, 2008EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

“EVOLUTIONARY EVANGELISM” TOPIC OF TALK AT MTSU LIBRARY Participants to Discuss Rev. Michael Dowd’s View of Creation

(MURFREESBORO) – Dr. Gary Wulfsberg, chemistry professor, and Dr. Rami Shapiro, adjunct professor of religious studies, will facilitate a discussion of Thank God for Evolution: How the Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform Your Life and Our World by Rev. Michael Dowd at a brown bag luncheon at 11:30 a.m., Wednesday, Oct. 1, in the fourth floor conference room of the James E. Walker Library at MTSU. The event is free and open to the public. It is the latest in the continuing series of Science and Spirituality brown bag discussions, which began in spring 2008. The purpose of these exchanges is to help us appreciate how both areas of thought can enrich the human experience without regarding them as mutually exclusive of one another. Dowd, who visited Murfreesboro’s Unity of Life Church on Sept. 17, refers to himself and his wife, Connie Barlow, as “evolutionary evangelists.” They are co-creators of www.TheGreatStory.org, a Web site dedicated to education and organization in what they call the “sacred evolution movement.” According to the Web site, Dowd believes that the story of creation “manifests synergistic coherence between science, religion, and the needs of today’s world. Because the creation stories of classical religions and primary peoples were birthed well prior to the discoveries of an evolutionary universe, these stories can at best be reconciled with scientific awareness. In contrast, The Great Story grounds its celebratory creation story on the contributions of the scientific endeavor, and the interpretations are nuanced to be empowering for today’s concerns.”
Thank God for Evolution is endorsed by five Nobel laureates—Craig Mello, 2006 winner in Physiology or Medicine; John Mather, 2006 winner in Physics; Thomas C. Schelling, 2005 winner in Economics; Frank Wilczek, 2004 winner in Physics; and Lee Hartwell, 2001 winner in Physiology or Medicine. The Science and Spirituality Forum is co-sponsored by the James E. Walker Library, the Colleges of Basic & Applied Sciences, Liberal Arts and Honors, the Department of Physics & Astronomy and the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost. For more information, contact Bill Black at the Walker Library at 615-898-2772 or Wulfsberg at 615-898-2070.

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ATTENTION, MEDIA: Rev. Matthew Dowd will NOT be at the brown bag luncheon/discussion. The participants will be discussing the book and its ideas.