there is a difference, however, between pseudoscience and religion. astrology is a pseudoscience, because it pretends to be based on facts, but is not. religions make statements which are certainly not scientific, and are not meant to be. insofar as a religion makes no factual claims, it is not open to refutation. when it does make factual claims it is vulnerable. a good example is the decision of the catholic church to defend the ancient ideas of the heavens (ptolemy) against the (then) new ideas of galileo and copernicus.