I'm Bill Moyers. It's good to have your ear. This week on Moyers & Company, we conclude our

conversation with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson on science and democracy. You have not

fully expressed your power as a voter until you have a scientific literacy in topics that matter for future political issues.

This requires a level, a base level of science literacy that I don't think we've achieved yet.

Welcome. For two weeks now, the astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and I

have been soaring to the outer edges of the universe in pursuit of dark energy.

We expected gravity to be slowing down the expanding universe.

The opposite is happening.

We don't know what's causing.

And dark matter.

We account for one sixth of the forces of gravity we see in the universe.

There is no known objects accounting for most of the effect of gravity in the universe. There is no known objects accounting for most of the

effect of gravity in the universe. Something is making stuff move that is not anything

we have ever touched.

Up there, heavenly bodies collide, creating spectacular displays of fire and light. But down here, the collision

of science and religion in the rough and tumble of democracy can create its own fireworks,

which brings me to the controversy Neil deGrasse Tyson triggered in the blogosphere when

he said this to me in one of our earlier episodes.

The problem arises is if you have a religious philosophy

that is not based in objective realities,

that you then want to put in the science classroom.

Then I'm going to stand there and say,

...