When I was young, there were many attempts by religious people to “reconcile” science and religion. For example, each of the six days of creation can be viewed as representing a different geological era. There was—and perhaps still is—a view that science contradicts religion, that one has to reconcile them. It is apologetic, and I don’t buy it.
He is swallowing the bullet on separate magisteria, here.
Directly above the passage quoted in OP is this:
He is swallowing the bullet on separate magisteria, here.