Why use "scripture" but not "the scripture"?

[NewHopeR]

Context:

LESSONS FROM GALILEO
Watching the current fireworks between certain branches of the
church and certain outspoken scientists, an observer with a
sense of history might ask, "Haven't we been to this movie be-
fore?" Conflicts between interpretation of scripture and scien-
tific observations are not exactly new. In particular, the conflicts
that arose in the seventeenth century between the Christian
church and the science of astronomy provide some instructive
context for the evolutionary debates of today.

[charliedeut]

HI,

IMO, it says "scripture" because the conflict does not involve one single religion vs science, but rather some/most/all religions. Since each religion has its own scripture, the lack of "the" implies it is referring to the different written codes of religion.

charliedeut

[abaka]

Here the context makes clear that "scripture" is any (all) scripture of any religion (all religions). Galileo did quarrel with the Catholic church -- or vice versa -- but that's not the point. Scripture is the abstract collective for all books of holy writ.

When a believer says "in scripture", on the other hand, he recognizes the holy writ of his faith as the one true scripture.