I find Neil DeGrasse Tyson consistently reasonable, rational and persuasive. In this brief video, he does two things I think are important: he explains why labeling is the enemy of discourse, and he defends the distinction between agnostics and atheists.
It’s well work watching.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson is a breath of fresh air! So passionate about his life’s work. He manages to simplify even the most complex aspects (and there are a lot of them) of space science, physics, and the far-reaching effects of the US seeming to abandon the space program. There will likely have to be a massive training program when and if the program should go back online. An entire generation, as Tyson points out, will have no idea what their teachers are talking about when the teachers go into detail about the sun, the moon, the planets, and the universe. The void created by dropping the notion of visiting other planets will be as big as space itself. I listen to Tyson with rapt attention whenever I can catch him on C-SPAN or public television. Are we to just stand by and watch China and other world powers zoom past us, literally and figuratively? Alas! I fear that they already have and they are picking up speed!