I am not surprised. He was a disciple of Carl Sagan, who was a hard core atheist.
In one of the Cosmos shows (you can find it on Netflix), he talks about how Sagan invited him to Cornell when he was a grade school student. Sagan had an enormous influence on him.
There are some who pursue "science" as a quasi-religion. They replace worship of man and worship of the creation with worship of the Creator, who is to be forever praised (Romans 1:25).