For example, religious folk often characterise the big bang theory as such: “in the beginning there was nothing. Then nothing exploded, creating the universe. Ha ha, how silly”.

Of course, this is a complete misrepresentation of the current scientific understanding of the universe and its origins. No doubt, Christians would argue that “can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master” is also a misrepresentation. However, I would argue that there is a larger gap between common parodies of science and actual science, than there is between common parodies of religion and actual religion. Christians ARE supposed to symbolically eat God’s flesh and telepathically tell him they accept him as their master.

The above parody of religion is phrased humourously, but it is not factually wrong (in the eyes of Christians). Whereas a parody of the big bang theory about there being nothing, which exploded, is factually wrong.