Michael Dowd is many things: bestselling author, environmental activist, former pastor, "evangelist for evolution," and a pioneering, boundary-breaking big thinker with an evidence-based and naturalistic message meant to unite secular *and* religious people for a just and healthy future. To understand how his pro-science message can appeal to atheists and theists alike, you simply must see one of his dynamic multimedia presentations that touch on biological evolution, cosmology, climate change, and the true meaning of all religion/mythology. He last spoke at Sunday Assembly LA in 2014. On March 19th, he will be presenting his latest ideas at a special community event hosted by UU Santa Monica's AAHS (Atheists, Agnostics, Humanists & Secularists) and Green Living Committee as the kickoff to Climate Justice Month 2017. Don't miss it! (Free parking, childcare available.)

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We each have experienced times of trouble that threaten to overwhelm our individual lives. In such times, a vision of possibility is essential. The same holds for the punctuations in history when whole societies face troubles of an immense and uncharted variety. Truly, we here and now have arrived at such a time. Humans, unwittingly, have become a planetary force. We are changing, irreversibly, the very climate of our world. Henceforth, any actions we take as individuals and societies will be done in the new light of climate change. What vision will carry us forward through such times and inspire us to work together? How shall we frame the need to shed our business-as-usual outlook on life and take on a new vision of possibility that can unite us as a species in joyful self-sacrifice and service? What vision will charge us with a sense of heroic purpose that the future is, indeed, calling us to greatness? 

Dowd is a pro-science prophetic voice whose great joy is sharing a message of inspiration about our sacred responsibility to future generations. His work has been featured in The New York Times, LA Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Newsweek, Discover, and on television nationally. Michael and his science writer and evolutionary educator wife, Connie Barlow, have spoken to more than 2,000 secular and religious groups throughout North America since 2002, including a range of churches, synagogues, humanist groups and Michael Shermer's Skeptics Society. They were recently named Humanists of the Year for 2016 by the national UU Humanist Association. Michael has delivered two TEDx talks and a program at the United Nations. He has also conducted an acclaimed online conversation series: “The Future Is Calling Us to Greatness."

Michael claims that science and religion are not enemies -- indeed, they must work together if humanity is to survive the 21st century. Given our impact on Earth’s climate, the seas, and other species, humanity is about to experience what could be called The Great Reckoning. The good news is that this will also be The Great Homecoming: the prodigal species coming home to Reality. This presentation will focus on 6 points of agreement held in common by tens of millions of religious and non-religious people across the globe — and how to stay deeply inspired in the face of changing climate and other large-scale challenges.

Join us afterward in the social hall for light refreshments and mingling. Free parking will be available at the UCLA Hospital parking structure on the corner of Arizona and 16th, and childcare during the event will also be available. Please contact [email protected] with any questions.