"That's the difference between science and religion, IMHO: the scientist has "faith" in her suppositions, until a better theory comes along and is substantiated rationally/empirically (often, but not always, by a revolutionary genius, such as Einstein or Darwin). Religions hang on to their creeds whatever evidence there may or may not be for them, as long as those creeds are emotionally satisfying. When a religious faith "dies," another one may take its place, but there is no systematic replacement process comparable to that of one scientific theory replacing another -- it's a purely emotional leap from one unsatisfying faith to a more satisfying one. (For example, from Saul to Paul, or from a religion like Christianity or Judaism to Marxism :-) )."
First of all, emotionally satisfying metaphors can govern science as much as they do religion. If you look at contemporary science, this is not obvious; but if you look at science that is more and more removed in the past, it's clearly true. As for religion, what you say is true for organized religion, which is what most people think any religion is or could be. It is absolutely not true for say, meditation, which I would argue is the only genuine religious form/practice. By meditation, I don't mean self-hypnosis, but a quality of attention that one can exercise at any time. Meditation is a practice in which one remains completely present, open, and highly sensitive to everything -- while, not so much suspending judgement, as allowing it its appropriate place as one more phenomenon to be observed. If I had my life to live all over again, instead of writing a dissertation about John Donne, I would write one about the religious movement called the "devotio moderna" (14 century?) and argue that it was this mystical/meditation/practice based movement that actually laid the metaphysical foundations for modern science. (I think Cassirer partly argues this too.)
Of course, the meditation practice I describe above cannot admit priests, sacred texts, rituals, etc. and thereby is completely unacceptable as a religion to most. But then many people do not actually aspire to truth or freedom but to respectability and power. Too bad.
Joanna