I wouldn't go so far as to state that scientists in general have an agenda. I respect science and respect most scientists.
However, the minority of scientists who have an agenda do push things to the left. And funding and tenure issues no doubt play a part. That's why Christian objections to science are forcefully slapped down while environmentalist, feminist, or egalitarian objections are met with silence and sometimes capitulation.
A scientist at war with the local NOW chapter might indeed lose funding or tenure. Warring with Christians would produce an opposite result.
Remember Gould & Lewontin's war against Wilson? And the widespread silence in the scientific community over the Harvard president's gender remarks a few months ago? And does anyone seriously believe that homosexuality was reclassed as normal by the APA because of evidence and not ideological pressure?
Wilson won.
And the widespread silence in the scientific community over the Harvard president's gender remarks a few months ago?
Steven Pinker, widely reviled by even the more reasonable of IDers on this site, spoke up forcefully for Summers, as did many other scientists.
Back in the 80's and 90's, scientists like Paul Gross fought a successful war against feminists trying to intrude their ideology into science. It was that war that turned me into a conservative, as I appreciated the threat to science from the far left. The threat is now on the other side. It is fundamentalists who are trying to force their ideology into science, often using the same tools the leftists use. SSDD. (Same stuff, different doer)