Science and Religion not in direct conflict?

[robvalue]

The bible (like most religious texts) is full of nonsense that demonstrably didn't happen. However, anyone is free to "interpret" it however they want. So if it's important to them that the bible is "true", then they can just call whatever they like a metaphor, or else use mental gymnastics to convince themselves it means something other than what it says.

God truly is a terrible author, it seems.

Basically, when a religion realises it can't ignore or compete with science any longer, it co-opts it. I would much rather people delude themselves over what their book says and accept science, than delude themselves about science and reality to pretend their book is literally true.

It's always religion making it a competition; science just models reality. It's not science's fault if religion happens to be talking bollocks and science helps make this apparent as a side effect. Don't blame the auditor if your taxes aren't done properly.

Religion, in general, makes unfalsifiable claims. This is precisely so that they can't be scientifically tested. However, such claims are utterly useless to anyone interested in learning about reality. They amount to unecessary, undemonstrated assumptions which explain nothing.