England's churches are struggling to have faith. And it is far more common that belief in evolution leads to atheism not to stronger faith. Furthermore the Bible already speaks to the reason of pain and suffering. No need to ask Darwin. This article is totally off the mark.

Robert, San Jose, USA

The two oldest branches of Christianity -- Orthodoxism and Catholicism -- accept evolution as the best explanation on the origin and development of species. The first person to propose a theory of biological evolution was in fact St. Augustine, one of the most important Christian theologians.

Francis, London,

Alex Davie - exactly the opposite of what? You didn't even specify what you were referring to here. It doesn't matter, everything Michael says is dead-on fair and accurate. You need to re-think things.

Jonathan Wojcik, Palm Bay,

Michael has surely not read his Bible, which says exactly the opposite..

Alex, Davie, United States

Surely the problem is not belief in a creator since it will never be possible to prove either way. What does seem to be a problem is the unproven doctrine of organised religions since much of this this seems to lack moral and ethical standards, not be about goodness and often breaks UK and EU law.

Keith, Rayleigh, England

MIchael Reiss, is wrong to allocate natural selection to Darwin or Wallace.How de we know? Simple, both of them admitted that Patrcik Matthew and Charles Wells got tthere before either of them. Search Google for "wainwrightscience" for more details.

Dr Milton Wainwright, Sheffield, UK

I think the comment about the Word of God being "a person rather than parts of a book" (mentioned by Andrew, Manchester) refers to the fact that Jesus is called "the Word of God" in the Bible.

Susan Bennett, Farnborough, United Kingdom

Andrew, it refers to the often forgotten Christian doctrine that "The Word of God" refers to the person of Jesus Christ and not to a certain collection of writings. Christians worship Christ, not the Bible.

Malcolm+, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

Only a masochist or a sadist sees pain as a gift! Clerics who talk of a 'loving and compassionate creator' perpetuate the biggest lie of all and should hang their heads in shame...

Derek, Lewes, UK

"those with a Christian faith do well to remember that the Word of God is a person more than parts of a book"?

What on Earth does that even mean?

Andrew, Manchester, UK

Now it seems the Darwinists deny the primordial soup. Life forming out of material and becoming self replication. According to materialism, there is no concept of suffering.

seven, rose,

Chris - you can substitute "Darwin" for God too and have the same effect. Evolution is a religion, it takes faith to make it work, it has a holy man, Darwin, and it has holy scriptures, On the Origin Of The Species. So Chris, you require me to prove God exists. Prove to me Darwin existed.

Artie, Fredericksburg, USA

The Church accepted Darwin's theory, did they? Then why did they recently apologise to him?

"...the Church of England owes you an apology for misunderstanding you and, by getting our first reaction wrong, encouraging others to misunderstand you still."

Religion is fundamentally anti-science.

Alex, Cambridge, UK

Musing about peoples "understanding of God’s action in the world" is of course nonsense - since there is no evidence that a 'god' or 'gods' exist, believers can make up any interpretation they like, and they are all equally (in)valid. Substitute 'Batman' for God and it makes no less sense.

chris, Whitley Bay,