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CW: I am a Roman Catholic. Whatever Benedict XVI says is fine by me since Jesus Christ left him and his predecessors in charge. Generally, the Church regards as Christian those who are Roman Catholics in communion with the Holy See and, apparently the Eastern Orthodox, both of which have the Mass and all seven sacraments and very little disagreement on dogma (mainly papal primacy and the filioque) just a lot of historical resentments over long ago incidents. In a wider definition of the Christian Church as the "mystical Body of Christ", the Church includes "separated brethren" of reformed churches who have baptism, reliance on Scripture as their authority, a common confession that Jesus Christ is their sole Lord and Savior and a number of common beliefs as to the Incarnation, as to the virginity of Mary at the time of Christ's birth, and as to the facts enumerated in various creeds of which the Apostle's Creed and the Nicene Creed are the most common examples.

Personally, I would not care or even be surprised if God chose to use "evolution" as a means to His purpose of creation but that does not seem to be what most evos are driving at. Disagreeing with God is far above my pay grade.

The evos seem more wedded to a purely materialistic view characterized by the magic lightning bolt striking the primordial soup and, somehow, bringing about life in all of its infinite complexity. Count me skeptical particularly since Scripture says otherwise. Pope St. Pius X was particularly critical of the notion of men being descended from apes or apelike creatures in his magnificent 1907 encyclical Pascendi Domenici Gregis and in his syllabus of errors Lamentabile Sane.

Someone who fails to place either Scripture or Tradition (papal teaching magisterium) above the likes of Darwin seems unlikely to be a Christian or a very good judge of who is a Christian.

People who take their loyalty to the notion of having simian ancestry because some failed theology student said so, as a first principle, and only then decide whether or not God exists in their subjective estimation based upon whether God's existence is consistent with their passionate desire to have furry ancestors scratching their ribcages with one paw while using the other to swing through the tree branches in between banana banquets, have an amazing degree of imagination but are neither Christian nor particularly good role models for Christians.

My children have been mostly homeschooled and privately schooled. My eldest daughter wanted to attend the local gummint skewel entering junior year of high school. The school came equipped with the obligatory set of atheist science teachers but we correctly determined that our mostly homeschooled eldest would be, as a well-catechized Catholic, too much of a challenge for mere gummint skewel teachers. As a sort of punishment, we told her she could enroll in gummint skewel but that she would graduate from that skewel and there would be no more transfers no matter what the excuse. She could also report back on the specifics of the failed attempts to launder her mind.

Short definition of Christian for this discussion: One who is perfectly capable of and dedicated to resisting the religious cult of "scientific" fantasies in loyalty to the one true God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and of the New Testament. Darwin, as his enthusiasts well know, was no Christian. He ranks rather with Karl Marx, Margaret Sanger, Havelock Ellis, H. G. Wells, Barack Insane Obama and their ilk as destroyers of Western Civilization.

Generally, the Church regards as Christian those who are Roman Catholics ...

I have seen posts on FR by 'Christians' claiming that RCs are not really Christians ...

The evos seem more wedded to a purely materialistic view characterized by the magic lightning bolt striking the primordial soup and, somehow, bringing about life in all of its infinite complexity. Count me skeptical particularly since Scripture says otherwise.

1. You are mixing up the theory of evolution. It does not address the beginning of life.

2. The Bible says man came from 'the dust of the ground'. Soup or dust. Whatever.

Whatever Benedict XVI says is fine by me since Jesus Christ left him and his predecessors in charge.

“They are presented as alternatives that exclude each other,” the pope said. “This clash is an absurdity because on one hand there is much scientific proof in favor of evolution, which appears as a reality that we must see and which enriches our understanding of life and being as such.”