Evolution Weekend (formerly "Darwin Sunday") is held the weekend closest to Charles Darwin's birthday, February 12. Evolution Weekend offers an opportunity for serious discussion of and reflection on the relationship between religion and the sciences. This is accomplished through sermons, seminars, discussion groups, and other meaningful conversations. One goal of the event is to make resources available to congregations who wish to engage with these critical topics. Another is to demonstrate that religious people from many different denominations and faith traditions understand that evolution is sound science, and that, properly understood as science, it poses no problem for their faith. Through readings and song, liturgy and discussion, numerous congregations have begun to incorporate into their religious services some type of recognition of the evolutionary nature of the physical world.
Over its first three annual celebrations, Evolution Weekend has grown increasingly successful. Hundreds of congregations around the globe—814 of them in 2008—have united to discuss, explore, and celebrate both religion and science. 2009 will likely see even greater participation because it includes the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his seminal work On the Origin of Species. Evolution Weekend makes a bold public statement that those who claim that people must choose between religion and science are creating a false dichotomy.