The difference between a scientific authority and a religious authority is that you're allowed to doubt the scientific authority. The scientific authority is only as good as his evidence, and if he doesn't have evidence, or if his evidence is fraudulent, then he doesn't have credibility.

The religious authority never has evidence. He has a book of myths, and sometimes (in the case of Veritas 48) a philosophy book that allows him to belligerently attack those who he has not convinced and shift the burden of proof. In science, this would be subject to immediate suspicion, that the person with the claim doesn't have a case. In religion, however, such behavior is called apologetics, and it is honored.