Why Community UCC Celebrates Evolution Sunday

Written by Cathy Russell, a member of Community UCC

For many Christians, the science of evolution is often seen as at odds with faith. But now, as the dialog between science and religion grows, more and more people realize that evolution can enrich their spiritual lives. Far from meaning that the universe is random and indifferent, the science of evolution offers new insights for how you can align with God to bring more joy into your world and into the lives of others. In addition to the spiritual gifts of evolution, we celebrate Evolution Sunday because this science is the basis of an environmental ethic and because proclaiming the reconciliation of science and faith is a form of ministry and outreach.

Spiritual Gifts

While the discovery of evolution has been one of the most useful insights in science, it has been confusing and disruptive to the faith of many people. But now, more and more people realize that evolution can enrich their spiritual lives.  This realization comes from recent observations that the universe has a trajectory, or direction.  As Dr. Martin Luther King observed, “The arc of the universe bends toward justice.” Recent scientific observations have confirmed Dr. King’s words.  Growing evidence shows that the direction of the universe is toward complexity, cooperation, consciousness and compassion (love). When you recognize this creative force of love, you may choose to align with it. This Good Orderly Direction is Good News! Far from meaning that the universe is random and indifferent, the science of evolution means that you can align with this Good Orderly Direction (God) to bring more joy into your world and into the lives of others.

The science of evolution has caused many people to lose their faith, either in religion or in science. Paradoxically, a deeper understanding of evolution has helped people regain their spiritual faith in ways that are richer and more relevant than ever. According to Rev. John H. Thomas, the UCC's general minister and president, "Many today are hungering for an  authentic spirituality that is intellectually honest and at home in a scientific era. 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." By seeking to reconcile the science of evolution with faith, people are feeding their hunger for an authentic spirituality.

Environmental Ethic

Another important reason to promote Evolution Sunday is because evolution is the world view that supports an environmental ethic. Earth stewardship is now seen as inextricably linked to social justice, which is important work of the church. Furthermore, an evolutionary/environmental world view is fully compatible with and supported by scripture. In poetic language, Genesis 1 shows how the world was created in a sequential, that is, evolutionary, fashion. As part of this evolutionary plan, God created humans to be stewards of creation. According to Genesis 1:26: “Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” This passage suggests that the reason God created humans was for the purpose of caring for Creation. The importance of human stewardship over creation isn’t buried deep within the Bible: it is so important, so essential, that it is repeated twice in the first chapter of Genesis.

Outreach Ministry

It may be incomprehensible to people who have grown up in a progressive faith where evolution and religion have never been at odds to understand the pain and confusion of those who grew up believing that one must choose between faith or evolution. Still today, millions of Americans think they must choose. And in this choosing, some lose faith in science while the others lose faith in God. While more and more congregations are observing Evolution Sunday (which was begun in 2006), many more do not because they believe evolution is so obvious and a waste of time. For them, to devote a service to Evolution Sunday is like devoting a service to physics, or chemistry or math. Furthermore, Jesus never mentioned evolution, so why should we. But Jesus did say that it was our responsibility to heal the poor, and that includes the poor in spirit. Are not the 20% of Americans who suffer depression at sometime in their life poor? Many of these are kept from the love of God because of the false doctrine that evolution means there is no God, no meaning and no purpose to life.
According to Rabbi Zalman Schacher-Shalomi, the purpose of religion is to “orient people toward the cosmos in a way that they feel they belong.” People now realize that they are in a huge and evolving cosmos, and for many this disorientation leads to existential angst. I agree with Rabbi Zalman, and believe that it is the purpose of our congregation to help people feel like they belong in the cosmos that is moving toward compassion.
        Many people have felt the healing effects of the reconciliation of evolution and faith. One man reported that for the first time in his life (of about 70 years), he felt his prayers were truly connecting with God because God finally made sense in the light of evolution. He was no longer trying to reach out to a man in a long white beard. Another woman said that an Evolution Sunday service healed some wounds inflicted in her youth. For the first time she had assurance that faith and evolution were compatible. She was thrilled that children in our congregation would learn right from the start that evolution is compatible with faith.
        None of us in this congregation knows starvation for food. But that does not mean we don't feed the poor. Likewise, most in this congregation do not know the pain of isolation from God because of the false doctrine that evolution means there is no God. If we want to follow Jesus' example to feed the poor, then our congregation has an obligation to feed the poor in spirit with truth. These poor in spirit are malnourished with misinformation from both the radical minority of religious extremists who claim evolution is not true and the those radical minority of scientist extremists who claim that evolution means that God is a delusion. It's time that moderates speak up!

Scriptural Support for Evolution Sunday

Many people are skeptical of Evolution Sunday because they see no scriptural support for it. While it is true that the word evolution is not in the Bible, we are commanded to love God, the Creator of the Universe. "‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment."  This first commandment encourages us to love God with our mind, in addition to with our heart, soul and strength.  If we love God with our mind, then we will open our eyes to the rivers of evidence that pours out of biology labs across the world that shows how evolution by natural selection is the way that God creates.  It's been said the knowledge is a prerequisite to love.  How can we say we love God if we do not use every means to know God?

Whereas this commandment gets way less attention than the second, to love your neighbor as yourself, this first commandment is even more relevant today than it was in Jesus' time.  This first commandment encourages us to love all of God's creation and the creative process, not only our neighbors, the other humans.  In loving humans without the context of God, that is, Ultimate Reality and all of Creation, we ultimately destroy God's creation and as a result, the environment that sustains humanity.   Today, people emphasize human life at all costs, including the destruction of God's creation that sustains us. (As a result, many people are no longer free to die with dignity, overpopulation is encouraged, and every manner of environmental degradation occurs in the name of loving people.) One day a year to celebrate and honor God's creation and God's creative process is not too much to ask.  This seems much more in keeping with Jesus first commandment, which when observed, automatically leads to the observance of the second commandment.

History of Evolution Sunday

In 2007, Community UCC celebrated Evolution Sunday on February 11, the day before Charles Darwin’s birthday. In addition to an uplifting sermon given by Assistant Pastor Steve Burroughs, this event featured an affirmation of faith by Cathy Russell and a play written by Connie Barlow entitled the Lucky Little Seaweed. Enacted by Pastor Pete Terpenning and church member Joyce Wilson and narrated by Karen Kent-Pyle, this play had children and parents laughing to the point of tears. After the service, several people commented that they had never realized that evolution is about cooperation. They had always heard that it was about competition and survival of the meanest.

Clergy Letter

Evolution Sunday is the outgrowth of the Clergy Letter, which endorses the teaching of evolution and is signed by over 11,000 clergy: Following is the text of this letter.

"Within the community of Christian believers there are areas of dispute and disagreement, including the proper way to interpret Holy Scripture. While virtually all Christians take the Bible seriously and hold it to be authoritative in matters of faith and practice, the overwhelming majority do not read the Bible literally, as they would a science textbook. Many of the beloved stories found in the Bible – the Creation, Adam and Eve, Noah and the ark – convey timeless truths about God, human beings, and the proper relationship between Creator and creation expressed in the only form capable of transmitting these truths from generation to generation. Religious truth is of a different order from scientific truth. Its purpose is not to convey scientific information but to transform hearts.

We the undersigned, Christian clergy from many different traditions, believe that the timeless truths of the Bible and the discoveries of modern science may comfortably coexist. We believe that the theory of evolution is a foundational scientific truth, one that has stood up to rigorous scrutiny and upon which much of human knowledge and achievement rests. To reject this truth or to treat it as “one theory among others” is to deliberately embrace scientific ignorance and transmit such ignorance to our children. We believe that among God’s good gifts are human minds capable of critical thought and that the failure to fully employ this gift is a rejection of the will of our Creator. To argue that God’s loving plan of salvation for humanity precludes the full employment of the God-given faculty of reason is to attempt to limit God, an act of hubris. We urge school board members to preserve the integrity of the science curriculum by affirming the teaching of the theory of evolution as a core component of human knowledge. We ask that science remain science and that religion remain religion, two very different, but complementary, forms of truth."

Resources for Evolution Sunday

Evolution Weekend - National Organizers of The Clergy Letter Project and the event previously known as Evolution Sunday.

UCC Science and Faith - The National United Chruch of Christ has produced an inpsiring video and campaign about the reconciliation of science and faith.

Epic of Evolution - Resources to learn about the science of evolution and it's relationship to religion.

YouTube Video - Tour Guides at the Grand Canyon duke it out over evolution. Humorous video with a serious message.

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Colorado Participants

Following are other churches and clergy in Colorado that have participated in Evolution Sunday:

Church of the Holy Family
Aurora, CO
The Rev. Scott Jenkins

Community United Church of Christ
Boulder, CO
The Rev. Dr. Pete Terpenning, Pastor

United Church of Broomfield
Broomfield, CO
The Rev. Gregory Garland, Pastor

Wilson United Methodist Church
Colorado Springs, CO
The Rev. Keith E. Watson

Capitol Heights Presbyterian Church
Denver, CO
Mark Meeks

Highlands United Methodist Church
Denver, CO
The Rev. Dr. Betty J. Bradford

Messiah Community Church ELCA
Denver, CO
Pastor Wolfgang Stahlberg

University Park United Methodist Church
Denver, CO
The Rev. Paul J. Kottke, Senior Pastor

Unitarian Universalist Church of Greeley
Greeley, CO
The Rev. Zakir Lawrence Henson, Minister

United Campus Ministry
Colorado State University
Greeley, CO
The Rev. Peggy Christiansen

Green Mountain Presbyterian Church
Lakewood , CO
Kathi Worthington

Holy Cross Lutheran
Wheat Ridge, CO
The Rev. Bill Behrens

2650 Table Mesa Drive
Boulder, Colorado 80303
303-499-9119
email CommunityUCC

An Open and Affirming Congregation
The Rev. Pete Terpenning, Pastor

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