no, the priests had "belief", and forbid research.
Scientists have knowledge.
Four factors are essential to the classification of an item of information as scientific knowledge: (1) independent and rigorous testing, (2) peer review and publication, (3) measurement of actual or potential rate of error, and (4) degree of acceptance within the scientific community.
"the overwhelming majority of humanity has to BELIEVE what these so called elitists are teaching them"
That is your insecurity, no body can do anything about that but you.
I should also point out that the priests had knowledge of God. Not intellectual but spiritual knowledge. People want both types so I'm happy they exist.
I'm not a scientist or religious.. It's not my insecurity but seems to be the insecurity of many others. I prefer to not trust scientists because they tend to have an agenda., but at the end of the day it's no concern of mine. Also, it's ironic that most don't understand their tests and experiments are just to satisfy their ego. When people are in school they are tought a set of equations and formulas to figure things out. 99.9 percent of the people learning them, do not have the mental capacity to create or formulate them, so they must be taken at face value to be true. Believe what you want its no matter to me. I may play role of devils advocate, but in reality I'm just a human. I believe in love and happiness. That's my belief system. Reality has everything good and bad, but if I want to put faith in something it will be love. By the looks of you're post im guessing you side with science over religion. There's nothing wrong with that. Everyone has a different way of going about things. Newton was a kabbalist and an alchemist so he saw both sides of the coin. Me, I don't deal in coins.. Per se..Of course science will tell us alchemy is bullshit. The different ends of the spectrum is what makes life complete. Otherwise we wouldn't know freedom of choice and would essentially just be programmed robots covered in flesh.
Back to the point.. With such a small percentage of the population able to understand advanced scientific principals and theories, they have to put their faith in it that it's true. They don't and won't know truth. They can only know what they believe is true. That means whatever the 'top scientists are saying' will be believed as truth, so they can literally say whatever they want without much question. Who will prove them wrong? Another top scientist employed by the governments or corporations ? Because science is paid for, it must serve the agenda of the purchaser/employer or it will end. People pollute the world and it's gross, but to the point of changing the earth drastically or ending life for humans, I just don't believe it. Science is not authority, but has come to be viewed as authority, so yes people will follow.
Peer review by who ? By you? Or someone besides yourself being reviewed by someone besides yourself, and then preaching about it. If you, then you know the truth, if not, then you follow what sounds good to you based on the way your brain works. Really there are three options. One is for it, against, or they don't care.. I don't think of it as a choice because it has more to do with the way our minds are wired Following something that you aren't sure of 100% sounds like faith to me. Why did the reddit kid get taken out ? He was tryjng to prove the climate change scam. The one the so many believe in, even though they don't know the facts, they just read the 'facts'. Computer models predicting weather..c'mon..The ones that are never right.. They predict what the programmers want them to predict. After they're proven wrong, they'll say, "Facts? What facts? This is science.. A work in progress." Isn't it scientists that convinced people that eugenics was the way to go ? They scared the people and the people followed. Scared people will follow every time. Why? I'm no psychologist so I don't know,but it's easy to observe. This time the fear is climate change making the earth less hospitable to humans. Fear god, fear the weather, fear the Chinese, fear the Jews, fear the gays, fear the savage Indians, fear the cannabis its always something And always bullshit. Its funny you talk to people like you're a 3rd grade teacher or something.You don't seem to understand the process of peer review in science.