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41 of 50 people found the following review helpful: The Creatheist Treatise -- A Philosophy of Reasonable Faith, November 2, 2007 By  Cynthia Sue Larson "www.realityshifters.com" (San Francisco bay area, CA USA) - See all my reviews    Throughout much of history there has seemingly been a battle between the powers of reason and those of faith... between people striving to analytically comprehend the world through math and science, and those who deemed some things to be eternally beyond the reaches of man's ability to ever fully intellectually understand. At this juncture in time as world populations near the brink of unsustainability on planet Earth the thought-provoking book, THANK GOD FOR EVOLUTION!, presents us with a means for seeing a way to embracing a philosophy that encompasses the strengths of reason and faith... a kind of reasonable faith. Author Michael Dowd's whimsical writing style brings what might otherwise have become a weighty soporific tome into a playful and positive guidebook to "creatheism," a term coined by the author and his wife to embody their meta-religious scientific worldview which sees the whole as being creative in a nested, emergent sense... with humanity playing an integral and increasingly conscious part in the creative process, as there are many legitimate ways to interpret and speak about ultimate reality. This viewpoint is much more than mere pantheism, as "God" is a holy name for ultimate reality -- the all-encompassing wholeness -- which transcends all other realities. While much of THANK GOD FOR EVOLUTION! is devoted to exploring ways of seeing a unity between science and faith, specifically Christian faith, it also provides numerous techniques one can use for attaining a heightened sense of spiritual connection and compassion. THANK GOD FOR EVOLUTION! is a must-read for scientists wishing to answer the question, "But what do you BELIEVE?!" as well as for all spiritual people wishing to find a better way to describe how they can consider themselves both analytical and spiritual at the same time. There need be no conflict between these two, as numerous Nobel prize winning scientists assert, and as Michael Dowd encourages each of us to explore on our own. I give THANK GOD FOR EVOLUTION! my highest recommendation, with hopes that everyone interested in either science or spirituality will read it in order to open a dialogue and discussion about ways we can solve problems facing all of us with regard to crises in faith, environmental issues, and social concerns. Finding a way to use all of our heart, all of our mind, and both a sense of faith and a sense of reason will clearly bring us the most complete solutions, and THANK GOD FOR EVOLUTION! is definitely a key part of unifying the seemingly divisive elements into a cohesive whole.  Comments (2) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)

29 of 41 people found the following review helpful: Enlightening science, slippery religion, October 27, 2007 By  Peter M. Schogol (Lexington, KY USA) - See all my reviews       It feels presumptuous to say anything negative about a book which contains 6 pages of its own advance rave reviews -- have all those Nobel laureates actually read this book? -- but for me this is a 3-1/2 star book. I have three main problems with it. First, it is written for Christians, and those of us who are not -- in spite of the author's encouragement to read on anyway -- have to unwrap a lot of terms which need not have been wrapped up in the first place. Calling the urges of the reptilian brain "Original Sin" is helpful to exactly whom? Fundamental Christians, who likely won't read this book anyway, won't buy this slippery retrofit. And non-Christians are just going to feel like we've been bounced back into the Dark Ages, albeit on a cool bungee cord. Likewise with other Christian terms like Christ, salvation, and speaking in tongues. What Dowd has done with these is what Christian Music has done with Heavy Metal. Second is the cutesy language. I understand and appreciate that Dowd wanted to make the material accessible to as broad a (Christian) brow as possible, but "Higher Porpoise?" What is this, summer camp? Last, Dowd treats evolution as the long-sought Theory of Everything. Any overarching metaphysic, however cosmologically correct, eventually takes on the magisterium of orthodoxy. And coupled with Dowd's overweening grooviness, what we have is a new pop religion centered around what Rachael Ray might call E-V-O-L. I did give the book 4 stars, however, in spite of the above and my sense it only deserved 3-1/2. It is a well-organized, well-written book, and as much as I despised summer camp, Dowd's spirit is infectious and his humor reasonably adult. And the premise that The Great Story can, even should, relexify religious symbols, while not original to Dowd, is presented with authentic conviction. If you (who aren't Christian) are willing and able to get past the author's nostalgia for Evangelical Christianity, and can suspend your annoyance at some of his sophomoric word play, there really is much here of value. But I still think Dowd's attempt to kiss and make up (literally -- check out his bumper sticker of Jesus and Darwin fishes smooching) detracts from the book's overall usefulness.  Comment (1) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)

43 of 59 people found the following review helpful: A desperate voice, January 8, 2008 By  Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews          In a nation where nearly half the adult population denies or rejects the reality of Darwinian natural selection, Michael Dowd is a fresh voice. He's disturbed about that lack of acceptance of reality, so he applies the term in many forms to make his pitch. His cause is to incorporate various realities: deep time, the continuity of life, and the genetic underpinnings of our behaviour. All the while, however, keeping his "Christian" deity plugged into the equation. He wants, he says, a "marriage of Science and Religion". While he does this with enthusiasm, using prose skills honed in his travelling road show, the project ultimately fails. If nothing else, his desperation to convince his fellow unrealists shows through on every page. The result is rather like your Mum giving you bitter medicine in your orange juice. Looks good at first, but one swallow betrays the underlying reality of the dose. Each chapter is preceded by an epigram, and the first - by John Haught: "Evolution is Darwin's gift to theology" - is sadly symptomatic. Haught, like Dowd, completely overlooks what led Darwin to abandon the need for the supernatural - 13 finch species on a scattering of East Pacific islands. What would prompt a deity to such "wasteful" divergence? Diversity, Darwin reasoned, rested on the notion of an ancient Earth. The time was required to allow the slow, incremental changes natural selection needs to produce the great variety of life-forms we see today. Dowd not only accepts this foundation, he insists on it. The book's opening deals with the vast story of the cosmos, while showing clearly that individual retains a role in such complex emptiness. The author wants his readers to accept the idea of "deep time" with all the variation it can produce as something to embrace. That puts the reader in the picture Dowd is introducing and pulls them through the remainder of the book. He justifies this by declaring the "universe is in a trajectory" carrying us along with it. Such a statement flirts with teleological concepts, which Dowd indirectly champions. Dowd sets up a number of dividing lines which he feels will help the reader comprehend his message. Two are related to historical times - the Black Death's devastation of Western Europe challenged the notion of a "just" deity, leading to the beginnings of scientific investigation. The other, more amorphous, he calls the change from "Flat-Earth Faith" to "Evolutionary Faith". "Flat-Earth Faith" reflects a time when knowledge of the world was limited to experiences and beliefs of a given locality and time. "Evolutionary Faith" relies on awareness of all humans being interconnected through time within the vastness of the 14-billion-year-old cosmos. It's a significant leap for many, even today, but Dowd provides a one-man cheering section to encourage his readers to take that "leap of faith". The encouragement comes in the form of explanations of why things change, why change should be recognised and embraced, and why evolution is real. How Dowd can endorse natural selection without once mentioning the Galapagos finches that prompted it eludes this reviewer, but he manages the feat. He manages it simply by ignoring it. For all his reading in cosmology, geophysics and the rest, the logic of natural selection has eluded him. He endorses deep time, but only as a wedge to insert his deity into the mechanism. Dowd pounds that wedge mercilessly with a constant reiteration of how his god is ultimately responsible for EVERYTHING. By the time we reach Section Four, Dowd's evangelical passion is at fever pitch. He's anxious to re-establish his credentials and lure his readership to his newfound cause. He even cites his wife's "conversion" and his own "gift of tongues" as obiter dicta in pleading his case. In a spoken form, this technique might work to a receptive audience. In print, it's wearying beyond measure. In the final analysis, this book is nothing more than another entry in the "Old Earth Creationist" collection. It offers little but enthusiasm and a deity that may - or may not, we remain blithely unclear on this - tinker with the universe and its living inhabitants. To what end, we remain unclear. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]  Comments (6) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)