Michael Dowd's 1991 book, EarthSpirit,[2] launched his public speaking career, grounded in the epic of evolution, religious naturalism, and progressive Christianity.

[14] These included the Values Caucus at the United Nations,[15][16] The Skeptics Society,[17] the Darwin Day lecture at three universities,[18][19][20] and TEDx in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 2012 and 2014.

[21][22] In contrast to Christian fundamentalism, Thank God for Evolution presents how an evolutionary understanding can support emotional health in practical ways.

[12] In 2018 a Christian medical journal utilized Dowd's framing and animal metaphors (e.g., "lizard legacy" for the brain stem and cerebellum) to introduce how it can be used by pain management professionals.

[26] In 2014 he adopted a stage name, "Reverend Reality," and began wearing a green clergy shirt (image at right) to exemplify his shift into foregrounding ecotheology in his presentations.

Primary among them was the need for humanity to break away from ecological destruction and to seek redemption as the "prodigal species" who was finally "coming home to Reality.

"[28][29] He wrote and spoke of the ten in the form of "Thus sayeth the Lord":In 2015 Dowd read the 1980 book by William R. Catton Jr.: Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change.

"[31] By 2019 Dowd had pivoted his message to a pastoral form of support for those who, like himself, had lost hope that climate change, ecological overshoot, biodiversity loss and other causes of civilizational collapse already underway could be halted.

[25] Post-doom was the word he coined for the process of moving through the stages of grief,[30] then beyond mere acceptance and more fully into "calm, clarity, and courageous love-in-action.

[37] The author writes that "spirituality features quite prominently" among those who identify or ally with the post-doom perspective: "Christians such as Michael Dowd and Fr Richard Rohr are making their contributions."