I do wish this field were more scientific and factual. Rather, it more closely resembles cults.

I agree. I always cringe when I see a job posting where they're wanting to hire a "passionate" xxx engineer. I always think to myself, "no, you really don't. you want to hire a dispassionate engineer who is objective". It's very difficult to be objective when you're passionate about something (especially a technology). And then what do you do with that passionate person when the organization gets rid of the technology that they're passionate about?

ETA - fixed spelling error