Uhh, I'm agnostic, and quite "scientifically minded", or at least aspire to be, thanks.
Agnostic concerning...? Yes, I noticed you like to discuss math and science. I was surprised you expressed an anti-science sentiment.
I could make the same exact case for Religion. Societies use it for comfort, to educate themselves, or to fix broken societal infrastructures. For so many people worldwide, Religion is their last best hope, and (surprise!) they scoff at any denigration of their Religion. (I still don't quite understand how you don't consider it elitist to consider the comparison a "denigration" of Science, but I'll let that go)
Even that doesn't have any bearing on the ideation that Science is a flawed institution, nor does it lend credence to the proposition that scientists behave like a priesthood. And I don't understand how Science has anything to do with elitism whatsoever. If some people build personal power on account of their ...what?...their job?..., that just reflects an individual's personality, not a doctrine acquired from any of the literature, which deals exclusively with understanding nature.
You're comparing the theoretical Scientific Ideal with the application of Organized Religion. If you think real-world Science is controlled by no one, having no sanctuaries or rites, no "clergy", no political influence, no corruption, no agendas and no flaws then you are blind.
I suppose if my reality does not incorporate the bad guys in your reality, then you might conclude that I'm blind. Besides not seeing them, I have yet to understand who they are or what they have done. I see no evidence, and I hear no credible, verifiable or specific complaints. Clearly it's not my eyes. What is the nature of this blindness you diagnose me with? And which science has gone astray - the logic and geometry of the ancient Greeks, the Old World folks like Copernicus, Galileo and Newton? Or the fathers of naturalism, such as Mendel, Linnaeus and Darwin? How about Descartes, Pascal or Fourier? That still leaves an alphabet soup: Anderson, Bohr, Compton, De Broglie, Einstein, Feynman, Gauss, Heisenberg, Joule, Kelvin, Lorentz, Maxwell, Neddermeyer , Oppenheimer, Pauli, Rayleigh , Schroedinger , Thompson , Van der Waals, Wheeler , or Zeeman; and on and on.
Given that science stands on the shoulders of these scientists, a thousand more of noted accomplishments, and countless others who followed them, who among them is the priest? This is precisely what I don't see.
Both institutions are, in theory, a search for Truth. What do you think Amen means? As I said, it just so happens that (largely Western society) finds the "truth" of Science to be more practical than the "truth" of Religion.
I would think the general perception of religion is that it deals in supernatural absolutes, whereas science deals in nature, and with best evidence as the guide, and subject to change if and when new evidence overturns a previously proven result. It's hard to imagine a more perfect pursuit of truth.
As for society finding science useful: I would think most people, having had at least one science class in the course of growing up, would hold that science is the dry and perhaps boring pursuit of often trivial details though exceedingly complex methods that are hard to grasp through superficial overview. It's hard for me to understand how that bends a person's perspective into the ideation that there is a controlling bureaucracy, or propaganda, if this is what you mean, or any other kind of corruption done generally by scientists at large. All I have ever heard in this regard generally impugns science on account of some fundamental issue like evolution, abortion or climate change, and generally out of the person's objection to science insofar as it clashes with an accepted religious doctrine, particularly as it applies to those issues.
Maybe you are a better spokesperson than others who seem to abhor science to the point of refusing to embrace it as a means of personal growth. You are exploring scientific ideas, so: are you partaking of some kind of poisoned brain food? That's where I can't catch your drift.