One doesn’t need to come flat out and say something to make the assertion. If you didn’t hear it, then you weren’t listening critically.
You have a high opinion of faerie tales.
"If Genesis is meant as a fairy tale, . . . "
Pretending that someone saying the Bible isn't a science text is essentially the same thing as calling it a fairy tale is an example of either incredible stupidity, or of a deliberate distortion the person tossing "fairy tale" around hopes others are stupid enough to believe.
There's nothing contradictory in his statement, either, unless someone is trying to read a contradiction into the statement the same way some people read racism into everything to distort what others say in hopes of furthering their own agenda.
History books aren't science textbooks, they recount what happened without detailing the scientific specifics.If you read history of industry containing the sentence, "Dale Carnagie soon controlled more steel making capacity than his competitors.", you know Carnagie controlled more steel making capacity than his competitors. You don't know whether Carnagie personally prepared the land, poured the foundations, set each machine on it's foundation, bolted and welded each blast furnace together, and did all the other work it takes to build multiple steel works. Unless you're stupid or believe those who you're blowing smoke at are stupid, you also can't claim that by not detailing how steel works are built the author of the history is "essentially" denying that Carnagie had any control over when and how any or all of those steel works came into existence.
Of course, your average anti-Christ, anti-Christian, or anti-Catholic, doesn't have to come right out and say something to make an assertion but anyone who didn't recognize the agenda tied to the absurd "fairy tale" characterization wasn't listening critically.