Daylia - you said This may be splitting hairs a bit, but how can there be nothing scientific about anything to do with symbols, when without those same symbols (numbers, letters, formulae etc) there could be no "science" in the first place? Seems to me that Science itself is totally dependent on symbols.

This is one of the problems with language: the word 'symbol' is being used in two quite different senses. True, a mathematician or scientist will say a² + b² = c2 but the actual symbols are not important. q² + f² = h² would do just as well, so would sqr(a)+sqr(b)=sqr(c), a*a+b*b=c*c and many other forms. The symbols are simply placeholders with no intrinsic value beyond agreed conventions (which we keep getting back to), in this case of mathematical notation. On the other hand, a pagan would usually regard a pentagram as significant in its own right as a Christian would a cross: it is not a placeholder where any other item you may wish to substitute would do as well.