The problem here is that science cannot be explained without the self-referential consciousness that gives rise to the ability to conduct scientific inquiry -- something that science itself cannot explain. Though it does observe much of what occurs concurrent to consciousness and the life process, it cannot explain the existence of either. Spirit -- that self-referential consciousness -- cannot be explained by science though all of science is contained within it. And until we stop guessing at what spirit is we will get no closer to understanding that mystery, which means we will only understand science within a limited context that excludes the domain of interior experience.
Spirituality -- the systematized attempt to answer that question, to explain the interior experience in terms of external objects -- has never been based on formalized methods, and so the answers to what spirit is are as varied as the questioners. And the success of those questioners at living an ethical life is as varied as the quality of those answers. But the self-avowed "spiritual" tend to view themselves as living a higher standard, though they are living only a best guess with no formalized process to validate that guess. Hence, many terrible deeds have been perpetrated by people who have called themselves spiritual. And many atrocities have been perpetrated by people who freely embrace the non-spiritual life.
If anything is the root of evil, I guess it's being so catastrophically predisposed as a race to poor judgment and bad faith. Being self-aware, making judgment between good and evil, acting in accordance with some subjective interpretation of good and evil. In other words, being human.
That sort of makes it hard to cast the first stone...
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