Neil deGrasse Tyson at the Beyond Belief Conference, 2006

                             Image via WikipediaI like Dr Neil deGrasse Tyson. He is a great astrophysicist and is great at communicating science, history, and philosophy. I don't agree with him on everything but I enjoy listening to him. In 2006, he gave the following speech at the Beyond Belief Conference which was attended by the likes of Dr Sam Harris, Dr Lawrence Krauss, Dr Michael Shermer, and Dr Richard Dawkins.





In the speech he describes his feeling that being religious is science stopper. He says that "revelation stops inspiration." I disagree. No doubt that Tyson is correct about Newton's brilliance. But intelligent design is not just to be invoked for when we reach our limits. In my opinion, those pioneers of western science would be the first to credit God for the stroke of insight that allowed them to make their discoveries. Intelligent Design is not meant to make you stop looking into understanding that design. I don't think Newton's religiosity at all undermined Newton. It inspired him.  I think the reason he didn't go farther because God didn't give it to him. God gave it to his successors. Thankfully, Dr Tyson does not go as far as Dawkins does underestimating and undervaluing people who believe in God.