Neil deGrasse Tyson — "I have no problem with God. I have a problem with people who use God to justify …"
I have no problem with God. I have a problem with people who use God to justify their own bigotry.
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More from Neil deGrasse Tyson
"I often think about how small we are in the grand scheme of things, and it makes me feel both humbled and empowered."
"We spend the first year of a child's life teaching it to walk and talk and the rest of its life telling it to sit down and shut up. Is it any wonder the world is in the mess it's in?"
"I'm often asked if I believe in UFOs. I'm open to the possibility, but I need evidence. I need the aliens to land on the White House lawn, or at least in my backyard, and say hello."
"I don't have a problem with people believing in anything they want to believe in. I have a problem with people telling me what I should believe in."
"If I had a superpower, it would be to make everyone scientifically literate. Imagine the world we'd live in."
About Neil deGrasse Tyson (born 1958)
American astrophysicist, Hayden Planetarium director, and Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey host who carries the Carl Sagan public-science mantle. Closely associated with Bill Nye (fellow science communicator) and Brian Greene (theoretical physicist and string-theory popularizer). For an intellectual contrast, see Ken Ham, founder of Answers in Genesis and the Creation Museum — Ham's career has been organized around defending biblical 6-day creationism — exactly the science-education position Tyson's mainstream-science communication is structured to refute.
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Understanding this quote
What it means
Belief in God is not the target here. The real issue is when people weaponize religion to rationalize prejudice against others — using the divine as a shield for hatred they would otherwise have to own themselves. There is a meaningful difference between genuine faith and invoking God as an excuse to discriminate, exclude, or demean people based on who they are.
Relevance to Neil deGrasse Tyson
Tyson grew up Black in 1970s New York and faced discrimination while pursuing astrophysics, a field that historically excluded minorities. As a public scientist, he consistently defends reason over dogma. He has spoken openly about encountering religious arguments used to block scientific progress or marginalize communities, making this distinction between faith and weaponized religion deeply personal and professionally consistent.
The era
Tyson came of prominence during America's culture wars of the 1990s-2000s, when religious arguments were frequently deployed against LGBTQ rights, evolution in schools, and stem cell research. The post-9/11 era also sharpened public debate about religion's role in public life. His statement reflects a generation of scientists navigating a society where faith and civic policy were increasingly entangled.
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