That '"separation of church and science" started mostly due to Marxism. Marxists used Darwin as absolute proof that we are nothing more than the aftermath of a primordial soup. Marxism cannot exist if a sizable part of the population believes in God.

Some scummy religious leaders didn't help matters. Instead of encouraging followers to learn about the science, they went the dark ages route and dismissed it outright having not researched any of it.

Prior to Marxism, there wasn't any kind of science/religion separation. Many priests were astronomers. It didn't matter. Only the results mattered.