As when Mr. Sagan hosted, and hopefully under Mr. Tyson's tenure too, Cosmos will serve as a not-too-subtle rebuttal to the Bronze Age creation story that more than half of Americans subscribe to, and the utter lack of explanatory horsepower that religion brings to the table.

"Vroom, vroom, kachunka, dunk, clunk" said Jesus' Volkswagen bus as he limped into the nearest FSM-friendly Arizona service station only to be told they don't serve people of his religion.

Oh, they'll serve him. But he won't be getting special treatment anymore. As a society we've decided to no longer ignore the fact that his right sandal is trailing around a 3ft piece of toilet paper and his vehicle tags are expired.