Scientific materialism

The belief that the universe is completely governed by natural laws, leaving no room for the possibility of supernatural or paranormal phenomena. Science itself can neither prove nor disprove the validity of scientific materialism, as it is not possible to falsify the notion, say, that there is life after death.

When people talk of contradictions between science and religion, technically thay are speaking sometimes of contradictions between scientific materialism and religion, since science is 'agnostic' regarding the validity of religion.