Speaking as a religious person, I wish you wouldn’t lump all religion into the same category as the science-denial religions like Christianity. There are many millions of religious people who are vehemently pro-science, and in some cases it’s actually a part of the religion itself - for example, the 4th principle of Unitarian Universalism is “[I support] A free and responsible search for truth and meaning”.
Word! Testify!
Here, speaking as a scientist, I need to point out that replacing a blind faith in priests wearing black robes with a blind faith in professors wearing white lab coats is not progress. We need to respect the scientific method, and the skepticism it enshrines and promotes, not create a cult of Scientism.
Think of me as the loyal opposition. I share your basic pro-science, pro-reason attitude, and your dislike of indiscriminate, uncritical, unreasoning faith in “revealed truths”. But the source of the problems we both recognize is not actually religion at all - it’s a lack of reason and skepticism. Religions that promote blind faith in textbooks and castigate skeptics are bad religions.
