I'd be interested in knowing what you mean when you say "the role of religion and science". If you're talking about how science accounts for the existence of religion, that's a question which has been barely touched upon in evolutionary biology.

It seems like people here are taking the view that religion is beneficial. Two things I would advise for anyone seriously interested in the topic would be to read Dennett's "Breaking the Spell" or, better yet, taking ANTH 040H. Despite some limited studies, there has not been conclusive evidence in the scientific community to show whether religion is an adaptation, let alone harmful, neutral, or helpful. Here's another take on it: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=...

@Daniel - I think you've misread the quote. You state how much has been written on the problem of evil, which reinforces precisely how "hard it is reconcile the undeniable existence of evil".