@farmerman,
This is an issue which the law also has. We have certain terms of art and they just so happen to be identical to words in common ordinary parlance. But when used as terms of art within the discipline (industry, if you will), they have a different meaning.
Consider the term
assault. In common ordinary parlance it's roughing someone up and, by definition, touching them. Not so in the law. In the law, it's a form of menacing (not necessary verbal threats, more like swinging an axe near someone's head). Touching is
battery. This is why you can be charged with assault and battery. Swing the axe and it's assault. Make contact and it's battery. Battery is a kiss. Battery is a pat on the back, too. It's just contact, and the degrees define how harsh it is.
Same with the term
theory in science. In common ordinary parlance, it means a hunch or a guess. In science, it's been vetted and is as close to a truth as we can get -- and even then, it's subject to continual checking and testing. And if it's disproven, then a new theory arises. Science is constantly tilting at its theories, to either see if there's a better theory out there, or if the current one still holds.
Faith differs. Faith doesn't tilt at anything. Dogma is accepted and that's that. And if it's not, then it's either apostacy or a rift which can turn into Martin Luther nailing his doctrine on a church door or Joseph Smith heading into Utah and founding LDS. Or it creates a sect, like the Ba'al Shem Tov and Hasidism.