Harvard University’s newly appointed chaplain, Greg Epstein, claims humanism (looking to individuals rather than a divine figure for moral ideals) to be his guiding doctrine.
According to Emma Goldberg, author of the New York Times article “The New Chief Chaplain at Harvard? An Atheist,” Epstein became a “humanist rabbi” around the same time he was hired as Harvard’s humanism chaplain. He later authored the book “Good without God,” a humanist guide to living a compassionate life without divine influence.
Harvard’s transition from its original motto, “Truth for Christ and the Church,” pains many Christians. Some Christians worry that the new chaplain will be actively leading people away from faith in God.
The main counterargument to this fear is that Epstein is not leading faith services.
Pete Williamson, a member of Harvard’s chaplain committee, wrote Christianity Today’s article “Why I Voted for the Atheist President of Harvard’s Chaplain Group.” The article states that Epstein’s new position is only to lead chaplain meetings and occasionally represent the Harvard chaplains at conventions. Williamson also tries to assure those worried about Epstein’s election by stating that the committee’s decision to welcome Epstein to the group was unanimous.
However, the fact that Epstein is a chaplain at all causes more worry than his election. In Robert Barron’s article for the New York Post “Catholic Bishop: Harvard Jumped the Shark with Atheist ‘Chaplain,’” he writes, “If a professed atheist counts as a chaplain — which is to say, a leader of religious services in a chapel — then ‘religion’ has quite obviously come to mean nothing at all.”
From Barron’s statement, then, Harvard has elected someone who believes in no god to a position that is all about leading people closer to God.
Harvard did not respond to Barron’s jabs. Had the university responded, it probably would have cited The Harvard Crimson’s “Religiosity” infographic (found in Chhokra Shubhanker and Pradeep Niroula’s article “Beliefs and Lifestyle”). The infographic states that roughly 35% of the incoming class of 2020 claimed to not be religious at all.
Because of this demographic, Epstein serves an atypical purpose as a chaplain. He seeks ways to give a religiously uncertain student body a safe place to question.