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Michael Dowd
49 quotes
“I wrote Thank God for Evolution! mostly to help religious believers from different traditions move toward an evidential worldview without having to abandon their tradition and join the atheist/humanist camp to do so. ...Few things are more important... than for... of religious believers... to embrace a science-based understanding of the world. ...Trying to understand reality without an evolutionary worldview is like trying to understand infection without microscopes or the structure of the universe without telescopes. It's... impossible.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Thank God for Evolution! - A Response to a RNCSE Review Reports of the National Center for Science Education (March-April 2009) Vol. 29, No. 2.
“I dedicate this book to the glory of God.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I promise that this book will provide... an experience of science, and evolution specifically, that will fire your imagination, touch your heart, and lead you to a place of deep gratitude, awe, and reverence.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You will... find here effective ways to talk about evolution to any friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors who are biblical literalists or young earth creationists.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To agnostics, humanists, atheists, and freethinkers... you will find nothing here that you cannot wholeheartedly embrace as... rationally sound, mainstream scientific understanding of the Universe. ...[T]he vision of "evolutionary spirituality" presented here will benefit you and your loved ones without your needing to believe in anything otherworldly.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Discussing Thank God for Evolution! with those you care about will open new doors of possibility... and provide common ground where none existed before. This book is a perfect gift, not to convert others to your way of thinking but to converse... deeply and heartfully about those things that matter most.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I met Connie Barlow at a lecture... Connie was the author of four books, and two of them had "evolution" in their titles... She, too, was a long-time "epic of evolution" enthusiast. ...[H]er passion for sharing a sacred understanding of cosmic history was no less than mine. Seven months later I asked Connie to marry me.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Connie was a self-described atheist, and her professional life was steeped in the sciences. My life was devoted to religion. Our union embraces both.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[W]e chose to display on our van both a Jesus fish and a Darwin fish—kissing. A retired biology professor... laughed, "Oh great! Now you piss everyone off!”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“God's gift of science reveals that our faith traditions are... meaningful and grounded in undeniable reality... When we focus... on points of broad consensus rather than... legitimate disagreement, conflicts... lose their grip.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[T]he fact that our Universe has been transforming along a discernible path for billions of years—the fact that creation was not a one-time event—is of little or no dispute. ...[T]his undeniable fact ...makes me want to shout from the mountaintops: "...The war is over!”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Traditional religions have played crucial roles in fostering cooperation within each tribe, kingdom, and early nation—though not infrequently by provoking suspicion and enmity of those outside the group. ...[T]o fulfill their potentials in our postmodern world, each will have to harmonize its core doctrines with the evolutionary world view. ...[T]he evolutionary outlook bolsters their core teachings. Instead of an intrusion... a precious blessing.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Evolutionary versions of each religion... are emerging. ...[A]dherents of each religion have discovered ...Religious insights and perspectives freed from the narrowness of their time and place of origin are more comprehensive and grounded in measurable reality ...Evolution does not diminish religion; it expands its meaning and value globally.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[M]any... believers have rejected evolution because... [it] has been depicted as random, meaningless, mechanistic, and Godless. The growing edge of evolutionary thinking... points to a very different understanding... a... realistic picture of divine creativity. ...a Universe astonishingly ...suited for life and ...consciousness.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Scientists... are moving away from a mechanistic... way of thinking and into an emergent, developmental worldview. Evolution... can be embraced as God glorifying and Christ edifying.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The ancient religious paths are aching for coherence with the great discoveries born of the quest to understand this... Universe, the living world, our evolved selves, and... our innermost psyches.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[M]y intent is to help you see what I see—science and religion can be mutually enriching.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[F]or... over 99 percent of human history—there is little evidence that any culture understood developmental time and space... remotely similar to... today. Nevertheless, the big cosmological questions demanded answers, and so the answers came. ...Orally transmitted stories would evolve—until (and if!) they were written down and declared to be the unchanging revelation of God. When a story becomes scripture, it ceases to evolve.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“School textbooks, unfortunately, sometimes render science as dogmatic as any fundamentalist doctrine. In truth, science is quintessentially open to revision and discovery.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[W]hat a difference it makes to be groping our way forward in faith—in partnership with God, or, should you prefer less traditional terminology: trusting the Universe... Reality... Time.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So long as religious and political leaders continue to ignore our evolutionary heritage, and thus do not put in place structures of internal and external support that can withstand the high dosages of that high status and power necessarily confer, then there will be no hope for a less calamitous future.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Understanding the unwanted drives within us as having served our ancestors for millions of years is far more empowering than imagining that we are the way we are because of inner demons, or because the world’s first woman and man ate a forbidden apple a few thousand years ago. The path to freedom lies in appreciating one’s instincts, while taking steps to channel these powerful energies in ways that will serve our higher purposes.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No otherworldly, unnatural paradise can compare with the utterly REAL heaven I now experience... every moment of every day, free of resentment, guilt, and unfinished business. ...By genuinely appreciating my instincts—thanks to the evolutionary world-view—and creating... structures of support, I now, by grace, experience an ease and freedom I've never known before regarding old habits, patterns, and temptations.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[L]et me slip into pride or arrogance, deception or inauthenticity, blame or resentment, or stingy, ungrateful self-centeredness, and I won't have to worry about burning in some otherworldly hell after I die. I'll be supping with Satan right here and now.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“May I continue to have the humility, strength, and peer encouragement to do what is necessary to remain in this state of grace. May I be a blessing to those around me. May I leave a positive evolutionary legacy, in service to God. And may the light of the living Christ shine within my heart and continue to guide my steps.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Thanks to our fresh understanding of the deep-time face of grace, science and religion... are ushering each other into greatness.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Denial gets a bad wrap, because denial is instinctual.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Denial is the largely unconscious habit of thought whereby we refuse to accept the reality of things that are bad or upsetting—or that challenge our world view, our legacy, how we live, what is required of us, and/or our feelings of self-worth or superiority.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Denial is also the instinctual impulse to reject or discount information that calls into question our hopes, assumptions, or expectations about the future.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We all have denial instincts... so we... can have compassion for ourselves and for each other... [D]enial often gets a bad wrap. It's often just adaptive inattention.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The stability of the biosphere has been in decline for centuries and in unstoppable collapse for decades. This "Great Acceleration" of technology and market-driven ecocide is an easily verifiable fact... [A]ll you have to do is Google "Great Acceleration.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Evidence is also compelling that the vast majority... will deny this, especially those benefiting from the existing order, those legitimately concerned about the consequences of collapse, and those who fear that accepting reality means "giving up." ...Virtually all of us fit that paragraph ...”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The history of more than 80 previous boom and bust societies... reveals how and why Homo colossus is destined for near-term extinction.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Homo colossus is Willam Catton's term for "industrial" humanity. That's where each of us uses 20-50 times the resources, and exudes 20-50 times the waste as Homo sapiens.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[P]aradoxically, "hope-free" collapse acceptance may be the only thing that can help us not make a bad situation worse—and live fully, fearlessly, and deeply meaningfully, even at TEOTWAWKI.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Collapse is when a gradual downward trend in biophysical health and wellbeing goes into unstoppable decline; runaway, out of control; etc., it's... abrupt climate change... like 10,000 years of climate change in half a human lifetime. ...This is known as "The Great Acceleration" of Biospheric Collapse.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At any measuere, absolutely everything that humans rely on... is now in precipitous free fall, unstoppable.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[I]f you Google "Great Acceleration" you see all these wonderful charts... socioeconomic trends and earth system trends... everything going up. ...[W]e naturally think going up means better. Oh no, because the things... are ecocidal trends... and earth system collapse measures [respectively].”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[S]ocioeconomic trends: population, motor vehicles, fertilizer constumption, tourism, river dams, etc., ...are the drivers of biosphere collapse. ...These are ecodidal trends and... earth system collapse trends.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The 's health has been in decline for one or two centuries, and in runaway collapse... for decades... The Great Acceleration of Gaian Collapse.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Any measurement, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide... We're losing all of the ice of the world... The oceans, the plankton, the corals, the fish, , oceanic dead zones and deoxygenation... and , the amount of soil, the fertility of the soil, the moisture of the soil, and permafrost is releasing tons of methane... unstoppable.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[W]e are now in a mass extinction... [T]here's only been one mass extinction in the past that we've lost the insects and the forest, and we're now adding carbon dioxide, methane and notrous oxide faster than then...”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[H]opium is a comforting vision of the future that requires breaking the laws of physics, biology or ecology, such as thinking that we can slow, stop or reverse The Great Acceleration of Gaian Collapse.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Unstoppable collapse... These extinction level tipping points... thresholds that are already in the rear view mirror. Loss of the world's ice... I consider Dahr Jamail's The End of Ice... my favorite book on climate change. If you only read one book on climate change this year, read that...”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Refs: Henry Pollack, A World Without Ice (2010); , A Farewell to Ice: A Report from the Arctic (2017); Dahr Jamail, The End of Ice: Bearing Witness and Finding Meaning in the Path of Climate Disruption (2019)
“When most of the ice is gone, the serious global warming begins. ...[L]earn about phase change and ... [W]hen you've got a glass of water, as long as the ice is in there, even if the sun's beating on it, it stays at 32°. Once the ice is gone the temperature goes skyrocketing!”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Methane belching from the permafrost, the deep and shallow seas, hydrates and clathrates, tropical wetlands.. as well as the millions of wells.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“, , and... abrupt non-linear ... ... verified that even if every human being went extinct tonight, stopping emissions immediately, we'd still see 25 to 40 ft of sea level rise in the next two centuries.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Refs: YouTube video, John Englander: Post Doom with Michael Dowd, or "Unstoppably Rising Seas," plus Englander's books, High Tide on Main Street: Rising Sea Level and the Coming Coastal Crisis (2011) and Moving to Highe…
“[W]e were watching... Evolution: A Journey into Where We Came From and Where We're Going. ...episode ..."What About God?" It examined the struggle that conservative Christian college students face in trying to embrace both evolution and a pre-evolutionary interpretation of their faith. ...Connie ...said, "You need to be out there talking to those students. ...to show how an evolutionary understanding can enrich one's faith!" ...A few weeks later, after a frustrating day at work, I told her (not really serious...) "...I wish we could travel non-stop, teaching and preaching the Great Story ..." Her response... "I'd love to do that!”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Each and every human being who has ever brought anything of beauty, value, or importance into the world has done so only because... impregnated or in-spirited by some aspect of Beauty, Truth, Love, or other attributes of God. This... is beyond comprehension, beyond... force or free will. ...as if some power greater than ourselves is at work. ...There is a sense of having served, like Mary, as a vessel for something ...greater than our own capacities. ...[[[w:Peak experience|P]eak experience]]s are religious moments ...The story of Jesus's conception can remind us of such miracles in our ...lives.”
Michael Dowd (1958–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source