Chris Davis, the only people who believe evolution is fact are those who have an extreme faith in nature's ability to create life from non-living matter, despite the fact that there is no proof this ever happened.
Evolutionists also have to believe that complex, specified information such as found in DNA, which forms a written code, conceived and replicated itself, despite the fact that only intelligent minds write code.
Evolutionists assume evolution happened, and ignore any evidence to the contrary. As a friend of mine said, I can use Lego to build a near infinite number of models from a few standard parts. What does that say about each being derived from the other? Nothing. There is no 'common ancestor'. But they do share a common designer.
Where is the empirical evidence that the more complex 'models' of life evolved from the simplest ones? There is none. Instead of Climbing Mount Improbable, it's Climbing Mount Impossible.

Andrew Halloway, Nottingham, UK

Chris Davis, evolution is only close to established fact for those who have an extreme faith in the ability of nature to create specified complexity all by itself. Does nature have a mind of its own such that it can create DNA - a code that only an intelligent mind could write? On what is that faith based?
As a friend of mine said, from a relatively few standard parts of Lego, I can conceive, design and build a near infinite number of ‘models’. What does that say about each being derived from the other? Nothing at all – there is no “common ancestor”. But they do share a common designer who uses the same ‘bits’ in many different ways to provide structural function.
Where is the empirical evidence that the more complex 'models' are actually derived, in Darwinian progression, from the component parts? There is none. Instead of Climbing Mount Improbable, it is Climbing Mount Impossible.

Andrew Halloway, Nottingham, UK

Just two groups seem not to accept evolution: a tiny proportion of academics who understand the subject but whose faith forces them to doublethink; and the vast majority who know little or nothing of the subject matter, but know what they don't like. It seems that both the Pope and Mr. Halloway clearly fall into this latter category.

Among those actually qualified to speak with authority on the subject, the tiny chorus of Behe, McGrath et al do not a controversy make when pitted against the overwhelming numbers of life scientists and other academics for whom this 200 year-old theory, which has survived every serious objection, is now as close to tested, confirmed, established fact as science will allow any model.

Chris Davis, Newbury, GB

Mr. Owen, Father Coyne's retirement was nothing more than his retirement. It had nothing to do with his comments on ID. I have assurances from people who are close to him that this is the case. To say otherwise is to build a case on nothing more than a whole lot of hot air.

Thomas A. Szyszkiewicz, Peterson, MN, USA

The sooner the world wakes up to the fact that evolution is an Emperor with no clothes the better we will all be. It's a philosophy not a science. The empirical science of genetics, palaeontology, biochemistry and thermodynamics all confirm that although organisms have a wide range of genetic adaptability, they cannot and have not ever changed from one type to another in an upward progression. Evolution makes imaginary leaps for which there is no scientific justification. So we are left with a choice: believe that nothing created everything all by itself (evolution) despite the fact that everything looks designed, or that an Intelligent Mind created everything from nothing - and it really was designed. Choose your faith.

Andrew Halloway, Nottingham, UK

I just don’t get it why the majority of evolution proponents make disparaging remarks about the beliefs of others. Evolution in reverse?
Am I to be ridiculed when I say DNA is a code; code is a form of language; language is directly linked to intelligence. What about the grammar?

Roland Ward, Malton,

That Pope Benedict XVI would suggest it is God who created the universe should not be news. Whether he endorses the Intelligence Design movement or not does not escape that first point.

Terry Bohannon, Houston, TX

Surely once the Pope gets on a plane and discovers the world isn't flat, he may take his fingers out of his ears and realise that Darwin's theory of evolution holds a damn sight more scientific weight than the universe being created by an invisible super-being....

Dan, Hampton, UK