[tacticalogic]

The word “faith,” in the context of discussions of science, does not refer to confidence and trust based on experience. It specifically refers to belief in supernatural causation. Same for “religion.”

Then properly considered, "Scientism" is only applicable to people who self-profess a religious belief in science. I don't think I've ever seen anyone actually do that.

[Kevmo]

Then properly considered, “Scientism” is only applicable to people who self-profess a religious belief in science. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone actually do that.
***I have seen it. They just don’t know that they’ve self-professed such a belief and when they’re confronted with it, they backtrack — but not because they don’t believe it, it’s because they don’t want to acknowledge they believe it. Faith in science is no more than faith in man’s knowledge, so it’s properly considered a form of secular humanism. Currently, the “atheism” tag is used as a caucus/ecumenical tag on Free Republic, so a SecularHumanism/Scientism/Naturalism/Evolutionism/Whateverism tag would be appropriate to facilitate calm discussion.