I once had a friend who refused to believe that dinosaurs ever existed solely based on the fact that dinosaurs were never mentioned in the bible. To me this seemed absurd that my friend could hold this belief to be true in the face of such strong evidence. The world has a great diversity of people. With this diversity in people there will be a clear separation of beliefs. People will band together and form ideas that and will never stop believing in the ideas they have set no matter how outlandish they are proven to be. .
The world of religion is extremely different from the world of science. Religion was created a very long time ago. It had a huge variety of functions for the people of long ago. The mental capacity of people many centuries ago was much less than the people of today. What we consider to be simple common knowledge that mere children today accept as facts was incomprehensible to educated adults in those times. People needed comfort and explanations for all the different woes presented to every person even today. People would not understand the ideas of viruses, plagues, and microorganisms that cause illnesses. Even when Pasteur discovered inoculations as prevention to sickness, there was much opposition, especially in America, even at a time which in terms of history, was very recent. Even the advanced minds of any given time can be inadequate to absorb a concept later confirmed as perfectly rational and true.
Religion was also a way to control the masses. It has become a way to instill a set of beliefs on a large group of people and unite them into a single powerful force. The endless attempts to convert the unbelievers were more to boost the numbers and make their religion a dominant one rather than to enlighten them. Religion gives people a set of morals and a reason to live. Every religion lays a set of guidelines whether righteous or evil for their people.