Back in the old days, there was no concept of religion being a separate magisterium. The Old Testament is a stream-of-consciousness culture dump: history, law, moral parables, and yes, models of how the universe works. In not one single passage of the Old Testament will you find anyone talking about a transcendent wonder at the complexity of the universe. But you will find plenty of scientific claims, like the universe being created in six days (which is a metaphor for the Big Bang), or rabbits chewing their cud. (Which is a metaphor for...)
As far as glaring scientific errors regarding rabbits, saying that they chew their cud is relatively mild. At one point, there was a tradition in medieval Japanese folk Buddhism claiming that rabbits were actually birds, that their ears were actually wings (or in some sources, feathers), and that they “flew” by hopping. This was all apparently meant to circumvent dietary restrictions that prohibited eating of mammals but allowed for poultry. As a result of all this, the Japanese language uses the same counter word for both birds and rabbits.
As far as glaring scientific errors regarding rabbits, saying that they chew their cud is relatively mild. At one point, there was a tradition in medieval Japanese folk Buddhism claiming that rabbits were actually birds, that their ears were actually wings (or in some sources, feathers), and that they “flew” by hopping. This was all apparently meant to circumvent dietary restrictions that prohibited eating of mammals but allowed for poultry. As a result of all this, the Japanese language uses the same counter word for both birds and rabbits.