I think Tyson's dismissive attitude is part of the academic culture war between the arts and sciences that CP Snow posited decades ago. If we polled scientists and engineers (but perhaps not mathematicians), I expect most would be secular humanists like Tyson, and they'd share in his throwing of the baby (philosophy) out with the bathwater of religion. It's a culture war which calls for propaganda. Tyson's selling a science-centered culture.

The real test, though, is whether he's philistine enough to dismiss art, too. He can't do so while still being a popular writer, yet art might be like the camel's nose under the tent that eventually enables the whole camel (including philosophy and religion) to burst through.