First of all, freedom has no limits! It is "FREE" to be what ever it is. In Christianity, this is called "Free Will" of the soul. So, in fact, "Freedom of Religion" includes any and all religions and even none of the above.
As a "religious" person, I find a lot of wisdom in the statements of these very physically oriented scientists. It seems to me that our only difference (between science and religion) is that we are all looking at the same thing, but from different viewpoints and thus describing it differently, in our own terms. But, I believe, if you move beyond the words, a basic truth still exists, no matter who is speaking.
CASE IN POINT:
I recently heard that Steve Hawking believes that everything came from a "Singularity ... not a God". Several other Astrophysicists believe similarly.
So, as I see it, this Singularity is his Creator, or what some would call "his God"! So even he has a "Creator/God", the very thing he says that he doesn't need! His "Creator" just isn't in human form (or even in the form of a graven image) like most religions like to create. Everybody has a Creator: but, for, the Atheist it is the world without a "God". And as it is often called an "ism", I see it as yet another religion that just doesn't believe in "religion" or a "God"; but it still believes in a Crerative Source, none the less!
So, when Neale Degrasse Tyson describes the fact that he not only knows that he is in the universe, but the universe is in him, he still speaks a truth and a wisdom ... expressed in the terms that he understands
As my brother Bill said when I mentioned this to him days before he found his heart, as he was approaching his enlightenment, "It goes far beyond that". In those moments, he saw the truth ... and beyond.
