We briefly discussed "dark matter" on another thread. I thought this was a good article which shows the religious nature of scientific hypothesis.
http://creation.com/stars-dont-form-naturally
http://creation.com/stars-dont-form-naturally
One must invent unknown stuff — dark matter — with the right properties — the unknown ‘god of the gaps’ — to get stars to form naturalistically. Without it, it just can’t happen!
But why invent this unknown stuff? There are various areas in astrophysics and cosmology where dark matter is invoked to solve some problem. But more fundamentally why invent a ‘god’ to overcome established laws of physics to explain star formation? Is it because if they don’t astronomers will have to admit that materialism fails and that there is more to the Universe than hydrogen, helium, some heavier elements, magnetic fields, radiation and the laws of physics?