It's not only science education; what I see here in the US (and I am saying that as a practicing Catholic from Europe) is a problem with people's faith. They think it's under assault and in need of defense, they think God's word isn't strong enough to hold its own in the world, and that's where these weird arguments in favour of creationism comes from. I think they have crossed the line into blasphemy.

You even have this phenomenon of Cleanflix, this Mormon endeavour of beeping out rude words in Hollywood movies, because they are seen a threat to their worldview. This is for the same reason; they have weak faith.