Scientism is based primarily and mainly upon fear. It is partly the terror of the unknown..... Fear is the basis of the whole thing — fear of the mysterious, fear of defeat, fear of death.

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Some years ago, Paul Davies, a physicist, wrote an op-ed in the New York Times, noting that science, like all human endeavors, is largely based on belief,

The usual and expected uproar arrived in the comments section. It was most interesting to see that not a single person responding could logically refute what Davies wrote.

Let's look at some of the beliefs that provide the foundation for scientism:

1. "Laws of nature" (which, of course, originally referred to Divine laws, but once the Divine was removed, the idea of "laws" made no sense). Patterns are observed, and assumed to be unchanging for all time and space. "Assumed" is the word - that is, it is a belief. There is no purely logical reason why those patterns couldn't change in the next instant.

2. That at the basis of the universe is dead, unconscious, non-living and non-intelligent - something.

3. What is that something?

"matter"? Despite the common definition, nobody knows what matter is in itself. And, nobody knows for certain that matter is not associated with living, conscious, intelligence.

"energy?" As the late Richard Feynmann used to say, "We physicists have no idea what energy is" (yes, there is that "ability to do work" - but that is a process, it is not what energy IS)

"physical" - I've asked hundreds of physicists to provide a reasonable, coherent definition of this word. To date, crickets.

Now, this is not a criticism of science. It is simply an indication that when science approaches the status of religion, it is based more on belief, than on truth. And that is conventional religion.

Now as to what was actually taught before those teachings congealed into "religion," that was not a belief.