We no longer believe blindly what is told to us from the pulpit. We are an educated people, empowered, and free from the tyrants of ages past. In truth, however, the Age of Faith has begun anew. Instead of a blind trust in angels and saints, we give our devout trust to science. Science has brought the world into the light and has the absolute adoration of 20th century individuals.
Science is the religion of the multitudes and people look to it for salvation.
Ask the average man on the street if he believes in evolution and the big bang, and he will probably answer in the affirmative. Then ask him if he knows the mechanisms or the discoveries which led science to believe this, and the answer will most likely be in the negative. In the Middle Ages, the peasant stood in awe of the priest. The priest arrayed himself in ostentatious vestments and claimed to wield a spiritual power that the rich and powerful feared and respected. His ability to read and his command of Latin probably awed the individuals who might never travel out of sight of their homes.