The first two annual Evolution Sunday events have been remarkably successful - with hundreds of congregations around the globe coming together to discuss the compatibility of religion and science. This success has led us to expand Evolution Sunday and to rename it Evolution Weekend in an attempt to be more welcoming to members of all religions.

8 - 10 February 2008 -- Evolution Weekend

Evolution Weekend is an opportunity for serious discussion and reflection on the relationship between religion and science. One important goal is to elevate the quality of the discussion on this critical topic - to move beyond soundbytes. A second critical goal is to demonstrate that religious people from many faiths and locations understand that evolution is sound science and poses no problems for their faith. Finally, as with The Clergy Letter itself, which has now been signed by more than 11,000 members of the Christian clergy in the United States, Evolution Weekend makes it clear that those claiming that people must choose between religion and science are creating a false dichotomy.
Through sermons, discussion groups, meaningful conversations and seminars, the leaders listed below will show that religion and science are not adversaries.

In that spirit, the 1.4 million member United Church of Christ  has  launched a section of its national web site titled: Not Mutually Exclusive, that includes many resources. What's more,  

The UCC has purchased advertising on 30 of the most-prominent science and technology blogs -- as well as a few theology-focused websites -- during the month of February. Nine different ads will be utilized to reach out to the scientific community,

The UCC reports:  

With hopes of mending a millenniums-old feud between religion and science, the UCC has launched a new web-based advertising campaign geared toward the scientific and technological communities.

"Our hope is to begin to move the church to the place where its public image, public witness and public identity is one of a community of faith that is eager to engage science and to welcome and honor scientists," said the Rev. John H. Thomas, the UCC's general minister and president.

The advertising effort is being propelled by the release of a meaty Pastoral Letter on Science and Technology -- authored by Thomas and a nine-member working group of scientists and theologians -- that calls the church to "open ourselves and our theology to the momentous conceptual changes of our times."

"Many today are hungering for an authentic spirituality that is intellectually honest and at home in a scientific era," the pastoral letter states. "They are searching for a new kind of wisdom to live by, one that is scientifically sophisticated, technologically advanced, morally just, ecologically sustainable, and spiritually alive."

The 2,400-word pastoral letter, titled "A New Voice Arising," is being distributed in February to each of the UCC's 5,700 local churches. Accompanying materials suggest how churches can host opportunities for further study and science-related group sharing. The UCC's blog will devote the first week of February to posts and discussions about religion, science and technology.

The New York Times reported on Thomas' pastoral letter:

In an interview, he said he wanted to encourage engagement between science and religion "in ways that can enrich each other and challenge each other, particularly at a time when the prevailing public impression is that faith is an enemy of science or vice versa." He said he was referring to recent books attacking religion but also "the creationist approach, the continuing caricature of the opposition of evolution and religion."

Meanwhile, Religion News Service reports that the National Academy of Sciences has issued a book which declares that faith and science are comaptible.

A top panel of U.S. scientists has published a new book asserting that belief in the theory of evolution and religious faith "can be fully compatible," and that creationism has no place in science classes.
The 88-page "Science, Evolution, and Creationism," produced by the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine, is an updated version of two previous books supporting evolution scholarship.

The 2008 version is different, according to the 15-person committee that designed it, because it is aimed at clergy and school board members and discusses the role of faith in human knowledge.

"Science and religion address separate aspects of human experience," the book says. "Many scientists have written eloquently about how their scientific studies of biological evolution have enhanced rather than lessened their religious faith. And many religious people and denominations accept scientific evidence for evolution."  

Many Americans, however, don't accept that evidence, including Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.

It is also important to note that the UCC is far from the only Christian church with serious, non fundamentalist approaches to religion and science. And that the National Center for Science Education has been in the vanguard of efforts such as these for many years.

These are very encouraging developments in what has been, and in many ways continues to be, a dark era. Natural, common sense realignments in politics and religion are overdue and deeply necessary to address the signficant advancements of the religious right in all areas of life for the past several decades.