Given that the relevant kind of scientific enquiry corresponds in its goals with the religious, and that human inquiry and learning follows standard patterns, I for one am not very puzzled by the above. The difference between the two, I believe, is primarily one of ambition, encoding and transmission -- causing one (religion) to atrophy at times and the other to flourish.
I liked your post. And not merely because I agree that as long as one is killing animals (fairly gratuitously and in a horrifying manner) for various purposes, one should remain silent on sexual activities involving them!
--ravi