How do you notify a user of errors in input without a complete page refresh if you do not use Javascript (ignoring the most basic HTML stuff)? Without at least some scripting capability, you're talking about making the experience worse for the user to the benefit (ease of the request/response model) of the developer.
Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. It is the responsibility of devs to use technology well. You don't want all of this JS, but you do want some of it.
Too many people are making their assumptions about what is possible and what JS is capable of based upon views of web development that are 5-10 years out of date or based on bad software. Bad software is endemic to the industry, it's not representative of any single tech stack.
Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. It is the responsibility of devs to use technology well. You don't want all of this JS, but you do want some of it.
Too many people are making their assumptions about what is possible and what JS is capable of based upon views of web development that are 5-10 years out of date or based on bad software. Bad software is endemic to the industry, it's not representative of any single tech stack.