Neil deGrasse Tyson: ‘The more I look at the universe, the more I’m convinced there’s no God’

This weekend, CBS Sunday Morning aired an intriguing interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson. But one of the most relevant parts of the interview was axed from the main broadcast and instead posted to their website. At one point during the interview, Tyson was asked if he believes in God, or a “creator.”

“The more I look at the universe, the less convinced I am that there is something benevolent going on,” Tyson said.

“I look at disasters that afflict Earth, and life on Earth: volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, disease, pestilence, congenital birth defects — you look at this list of ways that life is made miserable on Earth by natural causes, and I just ask, ‘How do you deal with that?'”

Tyson said that if science and inquiry someday leads to evidence of a creator, then that’s “not a problem.” But that’s not where we’re at now.

“There’s just no evidence of it.”

“And this is why religions are called ‘faiths’ collectively,” he continued. “Because you believe something in the absence of evidence. That’s what it is. That’s why it’s called ‘faith.’ Otherwise we would call all religions ‘evidence,’ but we don’t for exactly that reason.”

Watch the full segment in the video below:

Featured image via screen grab

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.