Scientism

Once upon a time, Europe relied on a Christian framework to understand the world. But then, rationalists and scientists decided their views did not need religion anymore.
Sometime in the 19th century, this became obvious, as ethical views became secularized, the Origin of Species was published, among other developments. In the 20th century, the consequences of rejecting God were realized when the godless ideologies of communism and fascism rose and fell.

Some people substituted God for science, which carry dire implications for a methodology which is not meant to leave things untested. The scientific method is supposed to involve doing experiments and using the most reliable results to come up with the theories. In other words, the scientific perspective holds that material phenomena lead to understanding which ideas are true and not. Sadly, special interests and our biases make this ideal unattainable.