So as far as I can tell, in the time I've been here, there are a bunch of cynical leaders of the religious right. They get their funding and push whatever agen

So as far as I can tell, in the time I've been here, there are a bunch of cynical leaders of the religious right. They get their funding and push whatever agenda is asked of them from folks like that. But also you have the desperate need by the institutions themselves to denigrate science in order to stop it clashing with fundamentalist interpretations of their religious texts. For example, more belief in science might lead to people accepting that Evolution is science and Creationism is nonsense. Climate change allows both the cynical moneyed political interests whose wealth relies on resource extraction (which is a hugely politically corrupt industry), and the religiously inspired underminers (made up word alert) of science to have common cause. That's a powerful political force. If you could find a way to rope in the NRA you'd have the trifecta. Maybe run a report saying "Climate Scientists want to take away your guns"?