Scientists still suffer from Ptolemaic influences, no matter how far out their sphere of reference goes.
We’re born: I’m the center of the universe!
We’re a kid: I’m the center of the neighborhood!
We’re a schoolboy: I’m the center of the class!
We’re in college: I’m the center of my girlfriend’s world!
We’re a scientist: I’m the center of the universe!
Hard not to be influenced by Ptolemy when dealing with the enormity of it all. He was the FIRST that we know of who would even conceive of the world "out there."
Side note: I would think that most astronomers would NOT be atheists. I took an astronomy class eons ago and still remember vividly my awe. I wasn't easily awed by professors or their subjects, but he AND astronomy HOOKED me.
It is kind of amusing to realize that relativity requires the edge of the universe to be equidistant. But it's not the same thing as being the center of the universe. Since you can only look into the past there is an ultimate limit to your perception - the ultimate horizon is the beginning of time.
By its very nature, if the universe is larger than the “observable universe” then we are at the center of the observable universe. It has to be that way (again, assuming that the actual universe is larger in all directions than the observable universe).
Unless we start talking about things like currents in the ether.