Chief Chaplain Greg Epstein is the author of “Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe.” He also serves as Harvard’s Humanist Chaplain, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) humanist chaplain, and as Convener for Ethical Life at the MIT Office of Religious, Spiritual, and Ethical Life.
Epstein told The New York Times, “We don’t look to a god for answers. We are each other’s answers.”
Epstein will lead the university’s community of more than 30 chaplains who represent “many of the world’s religious, spiritual, and ethical traditions” and “who share a collective commitment to serving the spiritual needs of the students, faculty, and staff of Harvard University.” These chaplains work closely with students both in groups and individually, acting as mentors and counsellors.
Harvard University was established by Puritan colonists to educate American clergymen under the motto “Truth for Christ and the Church.” The university, named after Pastor John Harvard, chose clergymen to lead Harvard for over 70 years.
A Harvard Crimson survey of the university’s 2019 class found that students were two times more likely to identify as agnostic or as atheist than average 18-year-olds. 21% of the class said they were agnostic and 16% said they were atheist.