Thank you, your post really helped me to see how often "reason" simply supplants a religious authority (priests) for a scientific authority (scientists). It was also really illuminating to compare current technocratic theories like Kurzweil's singularity to good old redemption myths as they've always existed.
I still think, however, that there is something profoundly different between religion and science, because the scientific method, though ritualistic, calls for constant revision of observations and prevents an established dogma of facts to become sacrosanct. The Big Bang doesn’t ask me to rid my mind of all impurity so that its seed can blossom fully in the soil of my soul, and nothing I do can profane it's name. Although it is true that I rely more on faith in a scientific authority than on scientific beliefs, no single conclusion of science is essential to me. Only the scientific method itself is essential, this endless parade of hypotheses, all calling for my mind’s favor and none demanding my heart’s obedience.