To be fair, it's a news brief designed for the average layperson, not a research article. I think editorializing the content a bit is fine.

Besides, that particular phrase is commonly accepted as an idiom, not a serious reference to a Biblical Hell.

Yes, science must ignore the Siren call of religion! We welcome your efforts, for it is a truly Herculean task, nay, Sisyphean! You're like modern Prometheus, providing us fire on this Odyssey into the future.

What you're saying is like "This TV channel is against sports because they aired a theatre show last night."

You're mixing metaphysical categories.