I understand what you're saying, but I can't find a way to save the opinions of the Bronze Age religions. They're so backwards compared to modern knowledge about medicine and other practical fields of science that a complete reinterpretation is usually required, and reinterpretation can assign any meaning whatsoever.
For example, I'm currently watching a lecture about the Higgs boson. The Higgs field was not predicted by any Bronze Age religions (indeed not predicted by any religion I've studied) and its purpose is wholly mathematical and not easily deducible from daily life. I have no idea how religion could possibly climb to study the Higgs field without shedding most of its superstitions in the style of the current scientific tradition.
It wouldn't be a problem for folks to carry these ancient beliefs, as a first-order situation, but belief begets belief. Restrictions on diet are not much of a problem, but restrictions on sexuality are completely at odds with modern sexology and sex education, and we're not even talking about the millions of lives laid down in the name of God.
Edit to avoid posting too fast: Yes, I am saying that our knowledge of science irrevocably changed mid-century due to particle physics. This is Kuhn's incommensurability [0] and it is an essential part of understanding science: Sometimes we make leaps of understanding which are so radically large that they undo prior understanding and render it meaningless.
The Higgs field was not predicted by any science before the mid 20th century. Does that mean that according to your argument all science before the mid 20th century was bogus?
