“In the same way, a large proportion of political science in the twentieth century was carried out in a Marxist framework,”

That previous century [20th] the most influential minds were Marx, Darwin, Einstein, Freud. At least three and perhaps all four either an atheist or an agnostic.

Extreme religion or extreme lack thereof but nothing in between?

I have a bit of an interest in Catholic theology, on the basis that since this is what the brightest minds half the world could produce spent about a thousand years on, it is likely to have some value, even if it is fundamentally flawed.

In the same way, a large proportion of political science in the twentieth century was carried out in a Marxist framework, and while it is no doubt the worse for it, it is a stretch to dismiss it as worthless, less worthy as a point of comparison than Hobbes or Machiavelli, or to examine Lenin and Mao as political practitioners without giving any attention to the theories they expounded before coming to power.