I have a theory that with the decline of religion in the West, people replaced what they got from religious ideology with political ideology. The sense of belonging and community. The sense of certainty in basic tenets. The confidence of being able to reliably recite their 'scriptures'. (Which 'scriptures' all having been laid down by their prophets.) And they are all guided by faith, not necessarily data. They have become quasi-religious organizations, and I'm sure in the future, will probably crystalize into something fairly overtly similar to what we would call religions today.

I guess the point is that you can see some of the same behaviors of religious types being evoked in adherents to the various political ideologies. To the point of not really even being willing to listen to math, or data, or science. There is a very real perception among them that the scriptures allow a better understanding of nature and the universe than the systems nature and the universe provide to aid our understanding. Even more worryingly, as the article points out, they will often put forth ideologically pure 'domain experts' who can be relied on to give explanations grounded more in doctrinal alignment than scientific veracity. So we've already reached a point where explanations that are in accordance with 'scripture' have become a matter of great doctrinal import to these groups, and are being actively sought out. I guess by that I mean, the poison has leaked over from general society, into the sciences.

I honestly believe that, as these groupings of political ideologues coalesce to replace religion more and more, I'd bet dollars to donuts that extremism in the future will be fueled almost exclusively by these quasi-religious political groupings.