Neil deGrasse Tyson
Astrophysicist, director of the Hayden Planetarium, host of Cosmos and StarTalk
13 videos analysed · 33 quotes checked word for word · updated 2026-10-18
Key facts
- Born in New York in 1958; director of the Hayden Planetarium since 1996. Wikipédia 2026 · Neil deGrasse Tyson (Wikipedia)
- Hosted Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (2014) and the StarTalk podcast (since 2009); author of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry (2017). Wikipédia 2026 · Neil deGrasse Tyson (Wikipedia)
- As a teenager he received a personal letter from Carl Sagan, and says: 'I learned from Carl the kind of person I wanted to become.' Wikipédia 2026 · Neil deGrasse Tyson (Wikipedia)
Positions
click a row to see the evidenceHe says the word closest to his stance is agnostic, and that the only 'ist' he is, is a scientist. In 2014 he said he remains unconvinced by any claim made about a divine force. In his own words, he values evidence and sees none for any active intelligence or power, would be 'all in' if shown some, and the more he looks at the universe the less convinced he is that something benevolent is going on.
- He follows the evidence: he sees none for any active intelligence or power over anything, and says that if good evidence appeared he would be 'all in'. He calls himself agnostic rather than atheist. Video 2024 · Neil deGrasse Tyson's Sharpest…2
- He says 'God' means very different things to different people, so the question has no answer until one says which God is meant. Video 2025 · Neil deGrasse Tyson Just Broke…
- A God placed wherever science has not yet looked keeps receding as science advances: 'an ever-receding pocket of scientific ignorance'. Video 2025 · Neil deGrasse Tyson Just Broke…2
- The more he looks at the universe, the less he feels that something benevolent is going on; with the Lisbon earthquake, he repeats the old dilemma that such a God is either not all-powerful or not all-good. Video 2026 · Neil deGrasse Tyson Goes OFF: A…2
- A miracle is less likely than a new law of physics: if something seems to break the laws of nature, he says, it is more likely that we have found a new law, as he recalls from Hume. Video 2024 · The Intersection of Science and…
If you see no evidence for any god, you should simply say you are an atheist, and challenge believers more openly.
He says he is not ducking the question but sometimes lacks the energy, and that he does not feel the urge to convert people.
God is not a gap in science's knowledge but the reason why there is something rather than nothing.
See 1 more objections
Suffering may be the price of freedom, so a good and powerful God could still allow natural and human evils.
Defends : Lisbon: against "all is well", The problem of evil, Against miraclesMixed : God, or NatureCriticizes : The watch and the eye
He says he stopped looking for a given meaning and that any of us has the power to make meaning in life, for example by learning and by reducing suffering.
No sourced position yet on: Source of knowledge, Certainty, Mind and body, Freedom, Status of morality, Faith and reason, Human nature.
On the big questions
Does God exist?Agnosticism
He says 'agnostic' is the word closest to his stance, and does not count himself among avowed atheists.
- He follows the evidence: he sees none for any active intelligence or power over anything, and says that if good evidence appeared he would be 'all in'. He calls himself agnostic rather than atheist. Video 2024 · Neil deGrasse Tyson's Sharpest…2
- He says 'God' means very different things to different people, so the question has no answer until one says which God is meant. Video 2025 · Neil deGrasse Tyson Just Broke…
- A God placed wherever science has not yet looked keeps receding as science advances: 'an ever-receding pocket of scientific ignorance'. Video 2025 · Neil deGrasse Tyson Just Broke…2
- The more he looks at the universe, the less he feels that something benevolent is going on; with the Lisbon earthquake, he repeats the old dilemma that such a God is either not all-powerful or not all-good. Video 2026 · Neil deGrasse Tyson Goes OFF: A…2
- A miracle is less likely than a new law of physics: if something seems to break the laws of nature, he says, it is more likely that we have found a new law, as he recalls from Hume. Video 2024 · The Intersection of Science and…
If you see no evidence for any god, you should simply say you are an atheist, and challenge believers more openly.
He says he is not ducking the question but sometimes lacks the energy, and that he does not feel the urge to convert people.
God is not a gap in science's knowledge but the reason why there is something rather than nothing.
See 1 more objections
Suffering may be the price of freedom, so a good and powerful God could still allow natural and human evils.
Defends : Lisbon: against "all is well", The problem of evil, Against miraclesMixed : God, or NatureCriticizes : The watch and the eye
The question on the site: all the argumentsDoes life have a meaning?A meaning to create
Meaning is something we make, not something we find.
The question on the site: all the argumentsWhat makes something right?Nature or conscience
He denies that morality needs religion.
- He says it is empirically false that one has to be religious to be moral, pointing to largely secular countries. Video 2024 · Neil deGrasse Tyson's Sharpest…
Without God there is no lawgiver and no firm basis for morality.
He says it is empirically false that one has to be religious to be moral, pointing to largely secular countries.
Defends : One can be good without believing in God
The question on the site: all the argumentsShould we fear death?Nothing to fear
He sees no evidence of consciousness after death, compares it to the time before birth, and says knowing he will die gives him the focus he brings to living.
- There is no evidence that he will be conscious after death, and he did not suffer from not existing before he was born: the two non-existences are symmetrical. Video 2024 · Neil deGrasse Tyson's Sharpest…
- Knowing he will die is what creates the focus he brings to living, and he would not want an endless life. Video 2024 · Neil deGrasse Tyson's Sharpest…
Death is an evil because it deprives us of the good things life would have given.
He says we did not suffer from not existing before birth, so the same non-existence after death is nothing to fear.
The soul does not die with the body, so there is something to hope for after death.
He says he sees no evidence that he will be conscious after death.
Defends : The symmetry argument
The question on the site: all the argumentsShould we believe without proof?Two separate domains
Religion and science need not clash: he has no issue with what is done in church, and sees the conflict only when the Bible is used as a science textbook or taught in a science class.
- The conflict only appears when holy books are used as a science textbook or taught in a science class; there he will 'stand at the gate'. He has no issue with what is done in church. Video 2026 · Neil deGrasse Tyson Sparks…2
- Since a share of productive scientists pray to a personal God, he concludes there does not have to be conflict between science and religion. Video 2026 · Neil deGrasse Tyson Sparks…
- For him the real enemy is dogma of any kind, religious or not, rather than religious people. Video 2024 · PART 2: Neil deGrasse Tyson's…
Design in nature is a real question about the world, so creationism belongs in the science classroom.
He will oppose creationism in a science classroom but accepts it in a comparative religion or philosophy class.
Faith and reason are not two separate worlds: faith cannot contradict reason, and the two can work together.
In their words
The only 'ist' that I am is a 'scientist'.
Intelligent design doesn't lead to discovery. It is not science. It is not an opinion. Period.
If that's where you're going to put your God in this world, then God is an ever-receding pocket of scientific ignorance.
I wasn't thinking God. I was thinking this is a magnificent, glorious universe.
1 more quotes
It is the knowledge that I'm going to die that creates the focus that I bring to being.
How the ideas evolved
Click a step for details1996Director of the Hayden Planetarium
He becomes director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York and oversees its rebuilding, finished in 2000.
2007Death by Black Hole
He publishes a book of essays on cosmic questions. Later essays of his, such as 'The Perimeter of Ignorance', discuss science, spirituality and where knowledge ends.
2012'I'm more agnostic'
In a Big Think clip he explains that people keep calling him an atheist and that agnostic is a little more accurate. He adds that he has no time for atheist activism.
2014Cosmos, and a remark on philosophy
He hosts the series Cosmos. In March, on the Nerdist podcast, he asks philosophers why they are wasting their time. Philosophers and some scientists reply publicly.
2014Moyers: the God of the gaps
In a Moyers & Company interview he says that people tend to put God just beyond the frontier of what science knows, as Newton did for the orbits. If God is only that, God is 'an ever-receding pocket of scientific ignorance'. He adds that religious people who use the Bible for spiritual fulfilment are not in conflict with science.
In their words« then God is an ever-receding pocket of scientific ignorance »If God is only wherever science has not yet looked, then God keeps shrinking as science advances; believers need God to mean more than that. watch
« Think that there's one God, two Gods, ten Gods, or no Gods »Says he does not care what people believe in a free country; his only objection is religious ideas put in the science classroom. watch
« Enlightened religious people are not behaving that way »Distinguishes religious people who use the Bible for spiritual fulfilment from those who treat it as a science textbook. watch
2017Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
He publishes a short book that explains modern astrophysics for the general reader.
2018Simulation: better than even odds
He says the chance that we live in a simulation is better than 50-50 and that he cannot find a strong argument against it.
2020A second thought on the simulation
On StarTalk he says a counterargument by J. Richard Gott made him reconsider.
2024Miracles, awe and religious experience
On StarTalk he recalls (he thinks from Hume) that an unexplained event is more likely a new law of physics than a divine miracle. He says that at the telescope he felt awe and humility but did not think of God, and that rational investigation could kill most religious experiences.
In their words« it's more likely that you simply discovered a new law of physics than that there is a Divine miracle that was performed in front of you »Recalls a philosopher, he thinks Hume: an unexplained event is more likely a new law of physics than a divine miracle. watch
« I wasn't thinking God I was thinking this is a magnificent glorious Universe »On a mountaintop at the telescope he felt awe and humility, with the same words as religious people, but did not think of God. watch
« rational investigation could kill pretty much any religious experience »Thinks rational questioning in the moment would dissolve most religious experiences, and wonders if his knowledge prevents him from having them. watch
2024With Dawkins: no urge to convert
Interviewing Richard Dawkins, he says he did not feel the urge to convert believers who challenged him, and that he does not duck such questions but sometimes lacks the energy. Dawkins answers that he should not shy away.
In their words« I don't duck it so much as sometimes I don't have the energy »Told by Dawkins he is too timid about confronting believers, he answers that he is not ducking it but sometimes lacks the energy. watch
« I didn't have the urge to try to convert them »Told 11th-graders he was not there to stop them being religious, since the country protects religious freedom, and felt no urge to convert them. watch
The arguments 8
The site's arguments they defend or criticize, and why. Click a title to see the full argument.
He found the idea hard to refute in 2018, then said an objection made him reconsider in 2020.
He returns to the Lisbon earthquake of 1755: if there is a God, that God is either not all-powerful or not all good, since many innocent people died.
He lists volcanoes, hurricanes, disease and birth defects, and repeats the philosophers' dilemma: a God who allows them is either not all-powerful or not all good.
He recalls that, according to a philosopher he thinks is Hume, an unexplained event is more likely a new law of physics than a divine miracle.
He says that 'God is everything' resembles Spinoza's God, the one Einstein meant, but that this is a different God from one who watches over your behaviour and to whom you could pray.
On death he asks whether you had consciousness before you were born and says he sees no evidence he will have any after he dies.
He says the assumption that one has to be religious to be moral is false, and 'empirically false', as shown by largely secular countries.
He rejects intelligent design: it does not lead to discovery and is not science. In his words, if you want to put creation philosophies into a science classroom, he will stand at the gate and prevent it, but they can be taught in comparative religion or philosophy.
Allies and opponents
Richard DawkinsSparring partner
In a 2010 conversation at Howard University he said of Dawkins's activism that he respects it and that Dawkins is fulfilling an important role, while he himself prefers not to campaign. In a 2024 StarTalk interview, Dawkins tells him he should not duck questions from believers, and he answers that he does not duck them but sometimes lacks the energy.
Sean CarrollDisagrees
Carroll named Tyson among physicists who say dismissive things about philosophy, and answered them.
William Lane CraigDisagrees
Craig discussed Tyson's remarks on God and intelligent design on his podcast, with a critical view.
Take the Compass: 5 minutes to find out which philosophers you are closest to.
All sources (32)
- Neil deGrasse Tyson (Wikipedia) Wikipedia · 2026
- Neil deGrasse Tyson: atheist, agnostic, or equivocator? Why Evolution Is True (reports the Big Think clip) · 2012
- Neil deGrasse Tyson on God, part 2 (transcript of an interview) Reasonable Faith · 2015
- Neil deGrasse Tyson: Atheist or Agnostic? Big Think · 2012 *
- That Can Really Mess You Up Daily Nous (on the Nerdist Podcast) · 2014
- Simulation hypothesis (Wikipedia) Wikipedia (cites NBC News 2018 and StarTalk 2020) · 2026
- Sean Carroll: Physicists Should Stop Saying Silly Things about Philosophy 3 Quarks Daily · 2014 *
- Most replayed moment: Neil deGrasse Tyson on the future of humanity (transcript) The Diary of a CEO (third-party transcript) · 2026
- Neil deGrasse Tyson on Science, Religion and the Universe YouTube (Moyers & Company) · 2014
- Neil deGrasse Tyson on Science, Religion and the Universe YouTube (Moyers & Company) · 2014
- Neil deGrasse Tyson BEST Arguments Against God YouTube (republication) · 2025
- Neil deGrasse Tyson BEST Arguments Against God YouTube (republication) · 2025
- Neil deGrasse Tyson's Sharpest Arguments Against Religion YouTube (republication) · 2024
- PART 2: Neil deGrasse Tyson's Sharpest Arguments Against Religion YouTube (republication) · 2024
- PART 2: Neil deGrasse Tyson's Sharpest Arguments Against Religion YouTube (republication) · 2024
- Neil deGrasse Tyson Just Broke Religion's "PERFECT" Argument YouTube (republication) · 2025
- Neil deGrasse Tyson Just Broke Religion's "PERFECT" Argument YouTube (republication) · 2025
- The Intersection of Science and Religion with Neil deGrasse Tyson YouTube (StarTalk) · 2024
- Neil deGrasse Tyson and Richard Dawkins Discuss Science, Religion & Evolution YouTube (StarTalk) · 2024
- Neil deGrasse Tyson and Richard Dawkins Discuss Science, Religion & Evolution YouTube (StarTalk) · 2024
- Neil deGrasse Tyson's Sharpest Arguments Against Religion YouTube (republication) · 2024
- Neil deGrasse Tyson Goes OFF: A Full Hour Challenging Religion with Science YouTube (republication) · 2026
- Neil deGrasse Tyson's Sharpest Arguments Against Religion YouTube (republication) · 2024
- The Intersection of Science and Religion with Neil deGrasse Tyson YouTube (StarTalk) · 2024
- Neil deGrasse Tyson Sparks Controversy: An Argument on God That Demands an Answer YouTube (republication) · 2026
- Neil deGrasse Tyson Sparks Controversy: An Argument on God That Demands an Answer YouTube (republication) · 2026
- Neil deGrasse Tyson's Sharpest Arguments Against Religion YouTube (republication) · 2024
- Neil deGrasse Tyson's Sharpest Arguments Against Religion YouTube (republication) · 2024
- Neil deGrasse Tyson on Science, Religion and the Universe YouTube (Moyers & Company) · 2014
- The Intersection of Science and Religion with Neil deGrasse Tyson YouTube (StarTalk) · 2024
- Neil deGrasse Tyson on Science, Religion and the Universe YouTube (Moyers & Company) · 2014
- The Intersection of Science and Religion with Neil deGrasse Tyson YouTube (StarTalk) · 2024