Sure, in a very broad sense, science is also based on assumptions. But unlike religion, it’s built to be questioned, tested, and revised.
I respect that people find meaning in religious texts, but there’s a fundamental difference: scientific claims are open to evidence and correction.
You don’t need faith to know the sun is a ball of gas – you just need physics.
Yes, those are the typical answers that science believers give, and you're right to some degree. Science encourages questioning. Empiricism is a much more honest approach to life. However, it's still based on paradigms, not assumptions. These paradigms cannot be questioned. For example, they believe there is an observable, "objective reality" and a "fact" that can be derived from it. This is religious thinking because it is both not falsifiable and transcendent in nature.
