Patrick White quoted in his book "Voss" basically that Atheists refuse to see their own magnificence, so therefore refuse to believe in a divine being. What do you think about this?
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Major Look at yerself
ANSWERS: 15
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That it is Patrick White's opinion it doesnt mean he is right or wrong. I personally believe in God and respect others opinions for or against :o)
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He's entitled to his opinion of course - but I don't think he is right. What about the large numbers of religious folk who consider themselves unworthy, flawed, imperfect, sinful scum deserving of an eternity in hell and place their heads under the feet of the Sky Daddy saying 'Please don't crush me sir...'?
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It means Patrick White (or whomever said it) is a moron. The truth is the exact opposite. Non-believers see the magnificence and splendor of the universe, and humanity, in a way no believer possibly can: because we can see the beauty of the PROCESS behind it. Believers cannot see the magnificence of the process, so they just think it's magic, created by a magic being.
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Could be that some of us don't see this "magnificence" as anything more special than everything else every where. Humans are no more magnificent than a tree or mountian range, sunset or shooting star! We are not the apex of everything in the universe. Many things are greater than us...
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It's an interesting idea, but it presumes a dubious premise and jumps to a false conclusion: the dubious premise is that atheists do not see their own magnificence, the false conclusion is that magnificence proves the existence of divinity. I'm not an atheist, but I know atheists who DO see their own magnificence, and the magnificence of the whole universe in fact. But the notion that this magnificence proves the existence of God is simply not true... all it says is "the universe is wonderfully intricate and vibrantly alive", it does not say anything beyond that. It is we humans who have come along and insisted that there must be a divine explanation, but logically that isn't required to account for what is observed and experienced subjectively.
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He's stupid. I am my own god.
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Fallacious premises and weird conclusions.
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I haven't read this book, but from the quote I would say that Mr. White has got it backwards. I revel in my magnificence. Emily Dickenson said "We never know how high we are, til we are called to rise; and then, if we are true to form, our statures touch the skies. The heroism we recite would be a daily thing, did not ourselves the cubits warp for fear to be a king." Well, I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid of God, and I'm not afraid of Hell or original sin or any of the other thousand shadows in the dark that people fear just because they want to, because it's easier than trying to be magnificent on their own. But me? Well, for me it just comes natural :)
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My own magnificence or lack thereof has nothing to do with gods. It sounds pretty stupid to me, actually. +5
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I hate it when peopel try using their own paradigm to understand other peoples thought processes. you wanna understand you don't twist your ideas. you have to start from their foundation. many atheists are quite arrogant and noone sees themselves are more magnificent than arrogant people. how one asseses themselves has nothing to do with wether they believe there is something more. greens believe that humanity (sometimes themselves included) is crappy and nothing humanity does could possibly benefit the world. some people believe thay are the greatest thing to ever walk the earth even when they do nothing. ones opinion of themself has no force on their belief in a higher power.
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Patrick White is a perfect example of the "Straw-man argument". Obviously Mr. white has never actually spoken to an Atheist in a heart to heart manner.
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My thoughts have already been spoken here, much more eloquently than I could have spoken them, so I will just say that strawmen are easy to knock down.
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I disagree. Theists clearly see that they are magnificient, not through their own actions, but as Creations of God, even as a kind of self portrait of the artist. Atheists also clearly see that they are magnificient, not through the action of God but through their own actions. With love in Christ.
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That's an egotistical reason to believe in God. Also, the cosmological argument falls apart like a roast fresh out of the oven if you subject it to scrutiny. White says humans are magnificent, therefore a magnificent being created them. But if we think of humans as a creation, they are full of design flaws, physically and otherwise.
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I guess that is one way to denigrate atheists. Here is another: "In an absolute atheistic society, how would that society develop rules when everyone believes they are the highest being in the universe? What reason would they have to listen?" - http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/59750 Problem is that you can only choose one of them, as they are pretty much mutually exclusive ;-)) I find it pretty funny (and a bit ironical). regards JakobA
Moongrim 
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