If scientists in the past were supposedly so far off the mark and incorrect, yet were equally as confident in their conclusions, why would you trust the word of nu-scientists if they are just as liable to be wrong compared to their successors? You can't logically, yet people treat certain "settled sciences" like gospel. There is nothing separating Science™ from religion besides the fact the former replaced the latter for the government's favor (and funding) in our post-Enlightenment world.