Cosmos with Neil De Grasse Tyson Premieres Tonight

[Clueless Morgan]

Ugh, here in Oz we're a week behind, so I'm kind of excited for next Sunday now.

This is the stupidest thing ever - I'm sure there's more to it than I realize but why don't they just air everything at the same time? Why does Cosmos have to be aired a week behind the US in other countries? Why do they delay the US premiere of British shows for months? All it does is encourage piracy.
[/rant]

I didn't think tyson was doing much for atheism but after watching the cosmos episodes I think he is doing more for it than dawkins, harris, dennett and hitchens combined. Respect to the man.

How do you figure?

There are some who hear the names Dawkins, Harris, Hitchens and Dennett, immediately associate them with evil, Satan-worshiping Atheism and the Christian defense shields get activated. Brains shut off and the ad hoc excuses start flyin'.

NdGT, on the other hand, is approaching the subject from a scientific standpoint, presenting evidence and tearing down religious arguments (while not always explicitly saying they're religious in nature) using that evidence. He's not necessarily promoting atheism, but he is refuting common and very bad religious arguments used to prop up theistic belief and sneaking past the Christian defense shields before detonating his science grenades.

I think tor is making the point (and correct me if I'm wrong) that by not overtly approaching the subject waving and screaming that God is not real and being very confrontational about it, NdGT is potentially able to reach more people than Dawkins, Harris, Hitchens and Dennett precisely because those four are so invariably tied to the atheistic side of the argument and NdGT has been very diplomatic in his public persona and not picked a side.