Examine here the current status of the conflict, such as it might exist, between folk wisdom and science.
An almost ever present focus of society is some dynamic tension or other. The standard approach is bicameral. Right versus left, old versus new, order versus chaos, science versus folk wisdom, or some other dichotomy or conflict engages society. Witness the crowds at sporting events. Sports where two teams are set against each other have by far the largest following. Government in the United States is thoroughly bicameral. A dualism pervades the political party system.
Over time the focus can shift. Mere enhancements, alternatives or adaptations have become more like opponents.
In ancient Greece, and still mostly in the modern Olympics, several sports are not so much conflicts as an alternative to conflict. Only much later did sports become predominantly conflicts unto themselves.
Christianity was not intended to oppose Judaism but better adapt it to a world dominated, yet again, by a military power, by Rome, which was essentially atheist despite its several dying cults. Only later did a wider tension between Judaism and Christianity as a separate religion develop.
Science did not begin as an opposition to any existing system of knowledge or beliefs either. Only later did that conflict develop.
Atheism, the newest player, likewise did not suggest a new system, rather minor, unimportant modifications. By definition it still has no system of its own. Only lately have there been "atheist" rallies, bizarre as it is to have a rally for something with no system of its own.
Science as folk wisdom
Science, as things the common man can see, know and understand, was at first the same thing as folk wisdom, not about things that had to be settled by authorities. As a separate discipline it began as natural philosophy in ancient Greece, as an interest in the properties of nature as we can see them working. It got the name "science" from Roman Latin meaning things that we "know" or things we can explain and predict. Science searched for the rules that nature always follows.
Over time, as a separate discipline, science explained more and more and began to outgrow folk wisdom. It became substantial enough to challenge various minor points of religion, which had stood above folk wisdom. With Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation it found a rule nature always follows and that religion had neglected to address well.
Watch the shifting players. Folk wisdom began to challenge religion with more vigor. Previously some folks as "Christians" had decided they could perform miracles as well as any rabbinate, and without much dependence on a set of rules. It was noted here earlier that a conflict developed between some "Christians" and some "Jews."
Religion as folk wisdom
As usual things began as a development of, not an opposition to, anything. Even with the mystery of gravity being solved religion only began to yield trivial territory to science. People only began to undertake explaining the origins of life as well and as far as they could by science, not expecting to be called upon to settle disputes.
As time went on, Van Leeuwenhoek showed people "animalcules," living yet so simple as molecules, or so it seemed with primitive microscopes. Darwin noted "natural selection" as a means to improve living things over time without need of intervention by God.
At some point thereafter, religion, as things people can't see, began to be relegated to "folk" wisdom, or a folk diversion, with science becoming more elite, taking more authority, and settling disputes "folks" couldn't. With that mangling of the definitions "science versus religion" became a notable dynamic tension in society.
Breakdown of authority
Add to that a century of scientific achievements and developments and you have people who think they can work their own miracles without the help of any god. The new popular authority has many more tricks and much less inclination to follow rules than those "Christians" who challenged the rabbinate mentioned earlier here. Rather than calling their new popular authority a religion, they shun the "folk" wisdom of religion as a mere diversion. They consider atheism a mark of the intelligentsia. Theirs is a "science" with authority to settle disputes the common folk can't settle, in some opinion anyway.
Clear definitions
Theirs is not real science. Theirs is a blind faith in outdated science.
Much to the surprise of some scientists the explanation of an origin of life never in fact showed itself. As microscopes and the understanding of the chemistry of life developed, the less likely any assembly of life by blind chance proved, not the more. Science never explained the origin of life, it had only expected to do that quite long ago. The science of the matter is that it has not and can not.
The message falls on the deaf ears of the masses. They are not aware they can't explain. They think an agency of blind chance is an explanation. It's not. Rather, it's an acknowledgement that the rules have not been found.
The folk wisdom of the ten commandments and the like is the real science. It is the political solution where no human king or master wields all knowledge and power over other people. The solution where people can't explain every detail of existence is to mind their own business, and manage what details they can. Strict marriage laws and private property are actually the way for people to mind their own business. People with lax marriage laws or confiscatory taxes are not minding their own business so well as they think. That is the folk wisdom and real science of the matter.
Atheism in the sense of humankind's confidence in the totality of its own knowledge and power, far from being a solution, is and ever has been the problem.
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