I wouldn't want the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. or some other evangelical Christian in charge of research into why so many states in the U.S. have abysmal standards of reproductive health for women. 
Let's face it, it is Christian institutions and practitioners of that faith (Catholic, evangelical, etc.) who are responsible for the institutionalization of  lowered standards of health for citizens who are women in the United States. If Mr. Kristof thinks citizens are unaware of who bears responsibility for creating the atmosphere in which violent attacks against women, women's clinics, and the physicians and staff who work in them, have taken place, he's sorely mistaken. 
If a scholar is a Satanist and tries to incorporate the tenants of that religion into intellectual debates in a university setting I'm going to bet that that scholar will face discrimination. Most reputable scholars keep their personal religious beliefs for the most part private, especially in the work setting.