Neil Degrasse Tyson

[Cephus]

I'd agree with you that the individuals probably aren't, most people in Europe don't really believe in gods, their limited church activity is social, not religious.  Of course, the churches only exist to push a particular religious view so clearly, they are religious in nature.

But you can't really point to organizations that clearly only represent a minuscule minority of atheists and pretend that their mission statement describes them all.  I think American Atheists is one of, if not the largest atheist group in the country, but they only have 2200 members.  Why do you think this tiny little group gets to speak for millions of atheists?  That's like saying that the Million Moms, a tiny group of people working in a basement at the American Family Association, actually represents the interests of half of the people in America.  That's just idiotic.

I don't - And that's the thing, I'm not saying they represent our interests, personally they don't represent mine as I'm not even American - I'm just saying that there's something we can all atheist activism and Mr. Tyson probably does not want to be associated with it because it may be bad for his image. Being a "celebrity" can be though

But there's a difference between activism carried out by a few atheists and atheist activism.  If it isn't representative of atheism as a whole, or at least as a majority, then it's just a couple of people doing things on their own.  Just like the Westboro Baptists are not engaged in Christian activism that represents the whole of Christianity, they are a couple of wingnuts with signs that are not considered credible by the majority.  Now I can't speak for what Tyson does or does not want to be associated with, that's up to him, just like it's up to me whether or not I choose to join any of these atheist groups and engage in their particular versions of activism.  Their actions, especially because I am not members of their groups, ought not reflect on me in any way  because I'm not involved.