Abstract
Thomas Lessl has written several articles that compare science to religion. 1 This is an intriguing analogy because it brings together two realms of human activity that are commonly thought to be at odds. Through this extended analogy, Lessl has offered a way of thinking about science that is valuable because it deflates some of the more bloated claims of that enterprise while building a better understanding of why the public communication of scientists is designed in the way it is. For example, [End Page 709] in one article, Lessl describes the way the Roman Catholic Church's Latin mass separated and elevated the priestly code from profane language, and he productively compares it to the way much popular science communication uses "a certain amount of often loosely employed technical language" that does little to educate the reader. 2 Likewise, the excitement of some popular science is well explained by Lessl in an article that points out a scientific rhetor's use of mythic qualities that serve "the same needs that religious discourse has traditionally satisfied for churchgoers." 3
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