In one sense, the scientists aren't the religious fruitcakes. They go about their business asking questions and studying the universe around them, breaking laws of humanity once in a while and always in search of more knowledge. The populace however views the scientists in much the same light as a parishioner views a pastor, bishop or pope. While many may question the sensibilities or statements of one scientist or another, another scientist's word may be held as truth in the same light as the Pope's. One scientist will say global warming is a fallacy and people will stand behind his statements, quoting him in arguments against global warming. Another scientist will say global warming is a real resultant of industrialization and his supporters will stand behind his statements, quoting him in arguments about global warming. In this way there are scientific crusades much as there are were (are) religious crusades. Religion isn't about gods, it's a set of beliefs concerning the foundations of the universe around us, the universe we know and the universe we don't know. A scientist may or may not believe his findings are fact, just as a pontiff may or may not believe the religion he espouses is truth; yet both men may preach to the populace as such. In such a way can it be said that science is among the new religions.
Man is inevitably drawn to religion. Those who want to turn away from the nature of man spit at religion, but modern science is little different from the lore of early men. Did Raven create the celestial bodies through trickery? The Pacific Northwest natives perceived nature and thus the Raven and from watching the raven one of them devised a story to explain how the world was created. Eventually chemistry gave men another excuse for where the sun came from. Many creation myths involve sex or at least couples and magic because after watching the world around them, they noticed sex was everywhere and all life was created through sex. It's not the most common creation myth because early people were blind, but because they saw clearly where life came from. ... Sure the fertility gods were a bit crazy--. Interestingly, a Zuni creation myth has touches of evolution in them. The first people weren't human at all, but amphibian; and depending on interpretation also had references to tectonics. The myth of Hermopolis focused on the dark chaos that existed before our sun and when the eight gods converged the Sun was pushed up. Early knowledge of fusion (ALIEN THEORISTS, GO!)? And what of the many myths regarding the cosmos? Early people looked to the stars more than many people do today because back then they didn't have street lights to blind them from the universe. While many did settle for the stars just being gods or the realm of the gods, that's not to say that there weren't people dissatisfied with that notion, or were satisfied with it as a placeholder for observations.
The foundations of theologies were science in its earliest sense. The laziness of man turned the early sciences into religions, the scientists grew complacent in the powers anointed upon them by the populace, and the world's religions grew. The religions of the old ones have lost their charm, the stars have become hidden, the grains at our hands have become nothing more than goods to be bartered for. The populace turns to modern science because the truths espoused by ancient scientists no longer hold meaning. In the past, man looked for something greater, something to humble him and, in some cases, make him feel better about himself. When the gods treated all life the same, men were humble with natures. When the gods doted upon humans, men were above nature. Over time there arose a school of thought that man was not above nature, that nature was not special, that the universe was made up of countless possibilities as evidenced by the innumerable stars in the sky. From thence the scientists stopped looking for a grand macrocosm and turned their attentions toward microcosms. Observations of society, both human and animal, would have suggested that there were other such microcosms at work. The world existed as it did not simply because some great being willed it so, but because the world was made up of things the blind naked eye cannot see. Maybe man wasn't made from mud, but man was made from something -- not just man, but all else in the world. One celestial body is larger and brighter than the others, but it didn't take a genius to know that objects appear smaller at a distance, and soon modern astronomy took root. Spirituality and science go hand-in-hand. There is no religion without science. While no doubt there was science without religion, it could be argued that the foundations of modern science would have never taken root without religion. The beliefs of the populace empower the attentive and curious to seek higher truths.