Is Science A Religion?

There is a thread going on at the Tough Questions Answered apologetics blog claiming that science is a religion. The initial post makes several statements during a review of Donald Prothero's Evolution book which attempt to back up this concept, for example:

"One thing that bothered me about the end of the book, however, is Prothero’s wholehearted and devoted worship of science. I can almost imagine him bowing at an altar, it’s so overdone."

"...the last 2 pages, where he quotes three of his favorite science prophets. First we hear from the Prophet Michael Shermer, who testifies, 'Darwin matters because evolution matters. Evolution matters because science matters. Science matters because it is the preeminent story of our age, and epic saga about who we are, where we came from, and where we are going.' Science, it seems, is an epic saga." --- "Next Prothero quotes from the Gospel of the Prophet Carl Sagan: 'The universe is all that is, or ever was, or ever will be. Our contemplations of the cosmos stir us. There’s a tingling in the spine, a catch in the voice, a faint sensation as if a distant memory of falling from a great height. We know we are approaching the grandest of mysteries.'" --- "And finally, a reading from the Book of Darwin, speaking on his theory of evolution. 'There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one.'"

"After having heard from the Holy Trinity, I almost expected Prothero to burst into a hymn of science thanksgiving. "

"Prothero is not just trying to teach about fossils; no, he is all about recruiting us to his religion, the religion of science."

"For Prothero, it seems that science is the answer to every question worth asking. After 358 pages of berating religious fundamentalists, it turns out he is one, too."

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Lets analyze this argument. Science deals with facts or truths and systematic knowledge about the material world (the only one we can evaluate objectively) gained through observation and experiment. Religion is a set of beliefs based on claimed actions of an untestable superhuman agency. Scientific conclusions are provisional and subject to change in the face of new evidence. Religion claims are dogmatic and resistant to change, even in the face of contrary evidence.

From an article in The Humanist by Richard Dawkins:
addressing this question:

"Faith, being belief that isn't based on evidence, is the principal vice of any religion."

"...science is not religion and it doesn't just come down to faith. ... science is based upon verifiable evidence. Religious faith not only lacks evidence, its independence from evidence is its pride and joy, shouted from the rooftops. Why else would Christians wax critical of doubting Thomas? The other apostles are held up to us as exemplars of virtue because faith was enough for them. Doubting Thomas, on the other hand, required evidence. Perhaps he should be the patron saint of scientists."

"...if you have a belief that is based solely on faith, I can't examine your reasons. You can retreat behind the private wall of faith where I can't reach you. "

"There is a very, very important difference between feeling strongly, even passionately, about something because we have thought about and examined the evidence for it on the one hand, and feeling strongly about something because it has been internally revealed to us, or internally revealed to somebody else in history and subsequently hallowed by tradition. There's all the difference in the world between a belief that one is prepared to defend by quoting evidence and logic and a belief that is supported by nothing more than tradition, authority, or revelation.

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Can you say "apples and oranges"?