Science: a religion?

During our discussions, Tony mentioned several times that his view of an absolute truth was similar to what a religion looks for. Combined with the way people in general refer to science has gotten me thinking that perhaps Science is a religion as well.

Science tries to attain objectivity, something that I consider to be the realm of gods, since I think it's impossible for humans to be objective. No matter how hard we try, we will always be subjective. Our views will always be biased by cultural influences and norms. The problem here is that we are not even aware of our biases, unless we are confronted with someone (or something) that thinks differently. Therefore, in order for science to be objective, it must come face to face with another culture's idea of science (one that would be separate from ours). However, the problem then becomes that we would reject this other "science", since it would not live up to our standards.

With science as a religion, scientists are the priests, and laboratories are therefore the places of worship. In this day and age, we accept the word of scientists almost unconditionally. True, scientists, unlike priests, need to provide evidence for their claims. Yet this does not change the fact that the people follow scientists' advice for living better lifestyles, for treating illness. Many companies try to sell their product via actors dressed in lab coats. The lab coat is a powerful symbol of authority.

We could draw a parallel between scientific procedure and religious rites. Both need to be done in a very specific way in order for everyone to be satisfied with the outcome. If you fail to conduct the rites (i.e. do science) properly, then you are discredited and ostracized from the religious community.

Despite all of this, I don't think that science as a religion is necessarily a bad thing. The point I wanted to make is that people should be made aware of the eerie similarity between science and religion, so as to (perhaps) avoid the same pitfalls. Science is a good religion, because it tries to teach us to think critically about the world, and to be prepared to accept new views of the world and the mechanics that guide it.