Science as Religion

I was listening to the radio the other day and heard a story about an atheistic camp for kids. The rationale was that all other sorts of religions have camps where kids can be indoctrinated so why not the atheists and agnostics.

The thing that I find interesting about atheism (at least as it pertains to a rejection of religion and a whole hearted embrace of science) is that science,  like all other theoretical orientations relies on a few fundamental principles that must be true in order for the system to work. In science some of those beliefs are that the world, universe and its properties are knowable, that people are smart enough to figure them out, and that the same principles or forces that work today have always worked in the past. Without these pillars science falls apart, therefore absolute faith in the truth of these principles is required. That is the first way that science is like religion; the next way is more fun.

My second way that science is like religion is that science has taken up a lot of the same space that the Catholic church held in medieval Europe. Both claim to have the keys of knowledge that they alone possess and therefore are the arbiters of Truth. Both have a hierarchy that is fairly closed to the majority of the people (Popes and cardinals then, PhDs now) and along with that exclusive hierarchy is a secret language held only by the elite (Latin and discipline specific jargon). I had a friend once tell me that all of the useful information and processes in school were taught to masters students and the only thing you were taught as a PhD candidate was how to use the jargon effectivly.

There are more parallels to be drawn, but these are the two that I like to bring up the most.