Steve; My thought is that relying on one's own conscience and reason reflects faith in one's own judgement.   Authoritarian systems, whether they are religious, political, corporate or academic, generally demand that the individual value the groupthink over their own judgement. They tend to assure it by undermining the individual's "faith-in-self".

There are those, perhaps few in number, who define "God" as that little voice inside you that asks "Why?" when everyone and everything else seems to be telling you to sit down and shut up. This is metaphorical, of course. There is probably a genetic sequence that accouns for it...