Science is about as far from religion as you can get... There is no analogy between the two. To imply that 'fanatics' that insist on scientific accuracy are like religious fanatics is insane.

One of the criteria by which I identify scientific extremism is the demand that science should be believed as unthinkingly as religion.

I have NEVER suggested that science should be accepted without thought- heck, the very concept is antithetical to what I believe- I nearly ended my carreer before it started by attacking a professor for argument by authority...
(And yes, I was MORE brutal to him than I have been to any poster here)

I do not hold science as a religion... It has no tenets that I would not give up if shown evidence proving them wrong... I have often had beliefs that - if correct- would benifit me and would be 'real cool' - most of the time the facts proved my ideas wrong- I did not cling to my beliefs, I accepted the facts...

Scientists are human, sometimes they act on ego- when they do they are always caught, and when caught they are destroyed. I have seen scientists destroyed because they were HONESTLY wrong- when a scientist falsifies data they are crushed... the community does NOT give forgiveness....

Science is NOT a religion, it is a mostly accurate understanding of the universe that is evolving- prayer will never deliver pictures of the surface of Titan- If prayer and astrology makes people feel nice, too bad- they believe in a lie - THAT is a fact that has been proven over and over.

Reason has a right to refute nonsense