Regarding religion vs. science... Well, both sides are kind of insecure, aren't they? In general what it feels like to me is that each side doesn't believe that people can make up their minds, but rather that they have to be indoctrinated. Learning about the other side seems to be a threat, because if they get to choose, they might choose the wrong thing, y'know? Plenty of people do manage to balance their religious faith and being scientists.
Magic! Now that's a whole different question. Is magic defined by the fact that it is not understood or by the fact that it is not attainable? Because if we go by the 'inability to distinguish magic from technology' rationale, then magic can still be attainable to everyone - plenty of us use stuff we don't understand on a daily basis. I think the question in HP isn't 'is everyone magic due to mutation' but what happens once everyone is magic. Do they all get to go to Hogwarts? I doubt it. There will probably be even more pronounced racism against Muggles and class distinctions and whatnot - pure/half bloods would go to Hogwarts, Muggle borns who are rich enough and influential enough would go to Hogwarts, the rest... would never learn how to use their magic properly and would be left with very little they can figure out, stolen wands and textbooks and whatnot. So now we're moving not to 'magic is elitist' but to an extremely similar situation to our world today. It's not about your abilities but where you're born, who you're born to, how lucky you are etc. that determines your level of access to magic.
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Regarding religion vs. science... Well, both sides are kind of insecure, aren't they? In general what it feels like to me is that each side doesn't believe that people can make up their minds, but rather that they have to be indoctrinated. Learning about the other side seems to be a threat, because if they get to choose, they might choose the wrong thing, y'know? Plenty of people do manage to balance their religious faith and being scientists.
Magic! Now that's a whole different question. Is magic defined by the fact that it is not understood or by the fact that it is not attainable? Because if we go by the 'inability to distinguish magic from technology' rationale, then magic can still be attainable to everyone - plenty of us use stuff we don't understand on a daily basis. I think the question in HP isn't 'is everyone magic due to mutation' but what happens once everyone is magic. Do they all get to go to Hogwarts? I doubt it. There will probably be even more pronounced racism against Muggles and class distinctions and whatnot - pure/half bloods would go to Hogwarts, Muggle borns who are rich enough and influential enough would go to Hogwarts, the rest... would never learn how to use their magic properly and would be left with very little they can figure out, stolen wands and textbooks and whatnot. So now we're moving not to 'magic is elitist' but to an extremely similar situation to our world today. It's not about your abilities but where you're born, who you're born to, how lucky you are etc. that determines your level of access to magic.
Hmmm.. that has been extra rambly :|