That's a possible unintended consequence. I believe the objective is to keep the argument as subjective as possible.
There's a long history of conflicts between religion and science, and religion hasn't fared well in most cases.
Characterizing science as a reigion is a tactic to try and avoid having that happen again.
I see nothing to be gained by making "religion" a dirty word.
It's interesting that creationism stands on its head and does global search and replaces to avoid the taint of "religion," but goes to extreme lengths to present itself as science.
What is it about religion that is so odious, and what is it about science that has everyone making kiss kiss?