You would be most welcome at the International Conference on the Evolution of Religion. The conference will be held at the Makaha Resort near Waianae, Oahu, on January 3-8, 2007. After afternoon check-in on Wednesday, January 3, it will begin with an evening reception at which Harvey Whitehouse (Social Anthropology, Oxford University) will give the keynote address. The first part of the conference addresses new research in the cognitive and evolutionary study of religion. Talks will review specific new advances in the naturalistic study of religion. Participants include internationally recognized researchers and scholars from a broad spectrum of disciplines, including cognitive and evolutionary psychology, anthropology, population genetics, and experimental economics. These talks will center on the results of specific research programs and will engage new understandings of religion and religious culture emerging from a range of empirical and theoretical approaches. After an evening talk by Philosopher Daniel Dennett (Tufts University), the second part of the conference steps back from these scientific studies to consider more general Philosophical questions. Here speakers will assess the power and limitations of evolutionary understandings of religious thought and life, and the implications of such understanding for religious belief and commitment. Presenters will examine the epistemological, metaphysical and normative commitments of religious and secular communities, and the scientific approaches that seek to explain them. Talks will represent a variety of naturalistic and religious traditions, with no particular perspective being privileged — save a shared commitment to pursue both scientific understanding and an open discussion of its wider implications.

On Sunday evening the Rev. Michael Dowd, who has been called "North America's evolutionary evangelist," will share his experience of teaching and preaching a sacred, meaningful view of cosmic, biological, and human evolution to secular and religious audiences of all ages and across the theological spectrum.

After the final sessions on Monday, January 8, there will be a summary banquet and wrap-up evening talk by biologist Jeff Schloss (Westmont College). The conference will close with optional local events on Tuesday, January 9, including an evening luau. Checkout will be the morning of January 10.

The proceedings will be available as a low-cost, widely-distributed book squarely aimed at "intelligent readers" world wide. The Evolution of Religion will be back from the press and ready for distribution within six months of the conference.