> The Christian creationist movement has plenty of people from the hard sciences with PhD's precisely because it is defensible, logical and evidence based.

Is flawed logic in itself.

I had a wonderful teacher in Civil Engineering with a PhD in Engineering and immense skill in the computation of harmonic wind induced vibrations in truss frames and other such things.

They also had a strong personal belief in young earth and other creationalist notions for which they had no professional background or grasp of radioactive dating whatsoever.

People with STEM PhD's are not immune to error or projecting expertise beyond their experience and qualifications.