Good-o, we've identified the problems with creationism. Go us.
Now what are the problems with science? (Anyone who says none, has to write lines after class.) Science is right, and provably so, about so many things - yet not exactly winning the battle for hearts and minds in the good 'ol US of A. What's wrong with this picture?
It isn't only the U.S. -- look at how religion and mysticism have made such a resurgence all around the world in recent decades; the more fundamentally superstitious and counter to scientifically observable reality, the better.
For my money, it is likely to be chalked up to the following: Science removes a feeling of "certainty" based on ignorance rather than knowledge; it offers no absolutes in its place, only that which follows the strongest probabilities; in order to understand science, it takes effort, study, a lot of thought, and even then some things are simply going to be too complex for the majority -- heck, as even some of those in the field have noted, "if you think you understand quantum theory, you don't understand quantum theory".
Religion, or mysticism, on the other hand, presents things that sound logical and reasonable (if you don't have a fairly good grasp on the evidence), are reassuring, have a "commonsense" structure ethically (unless examined closely, which most people simply don't do), and is often emotionally satisfying by dint of having evolved over a long period of time, adapting to the emotional needs and responses of people.
Science, on the other hand, deals with the evidence, regardless of how cold or even repulsive that reality may be to people. A good example of the difference -- and one particularly suited to this forum, given it is a sff forum -- is Tom Godwin's "The Cold Equations". No one
wants that outcome; it's brutal, it's cold, it's uncaring, it has no "humanity" in it... but that's the point. In reality, when facing the universe, humanity will periodically come up against the inexorable facts of physical reality; and, if we don't accommodate those facts, we don't stand a chance, as there is nothing out there to alter them for our sake. People don't like that. The fact that the universe is (according to all the evidence, and for all intents and purposes) simply a mechanism, without reference to us or our cares, concerns, or even existence, is simply something most people reject. It doesn't feed our egos. The more science advances, the more we find that not only are we not the center of the universe, some special object of a god's care and attention, but that we aren't even that important in the history of our planet (save for a very brief time, perhaps), but only one very brief moment in a very long history that both precedes and is likely to follow the existence of our entire
species, let alone individuals. Any "meaning" to existence is something we must put into it ourselves; it doesn't exist inherently.
That's something that's just too alien to most people's perceptions for them to feel comfortable with. Instead of seeing the awe and wonder of it all, they are repelled by the fact that reality simply doesn't wear a
human face, doesn't have human feelings....