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This is an excellent study and article.

There is one consideration I would like to advance. I admit it is not the only consideration.

Science was historically rooted in Christian civilization. It’s been said that Christianity stands upon Jerusalem and Athens, faith and reason. Faith in one God (as opposed, for example, to Roman or Greek polytheism) who would make a universal set of physical laws. Our capability to reason is a gift that we can and should use to understand a good creation from a good creator. Central to this is the conviction that truth is good. Made in the image of God, we can use reason to better understand the truths of the universe.

So. Jump forward to a Marxist influenced post-Christian world. The highest morality is to advance the cause of social justice - income and wealth equality. Telling the truth is good or bad depending on its contribution to social justice.

Of course, a lot of things continue through inertia. This can include good science. But it seems to me that where Christianity birthed science, Marxism (and its spinoffs) have birthed junk science.

By the way, I’m not throwing mud at Ayn Randian members of the atheist right. Their world view emphasizes truth and reason. However to date it is the atheist left that dominates both atheism, and the left. (Members of the religious left will always remain tools of the atheist left.)