Harvard University‘s chaplain organization elected a Jewish atheist, who calls himself a “Humanist Rabbi,” to be its president and lead the university’s religious groups, the New York Times reported.
Greg Epstein’s election represents the atheistic beliefs that prevail in Harvard’s student body.
“There is a rising group of people who no longer identify with any religious tradition but still experience a real need for conversation and support around what it means to be a good human and live an ethical life,” Epstein said.
Epstein has served as Harvard’s humanist chaplain since 2005, in which he has taught pantheistic doctrines about humanity’s interconnectedness.
Surveys show that Harvard’s atheists and agnostics outnumber Roman Catholics by more than two-to-one, the Daily Mail reported.
Nearly 40% of the student body identifies as atheist or agnostic, while only 17% professes the Catholic faith.
Students at Harvard proclaim atheism at twice the rate of the entire American people.
Epstein will lead more than 40 chaplains of Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, atheist and agnostic belief.
Not a single chaplain objected to Epstein’s election. All voted for him.
“Maybe in a more conservative university climate there might be a question like ‘What the heck are they doing at Harvard, having a humanist be the president of the chaplains?’” said Margit Hammerstrom, Harvard’s Christian Science chaplain.
“But in this environment it works,” he continued. “Greg is known for wanting to keep lines of communication open between different faiths.”
“Greg’s leadership isn’t about theology,” said Charlotte Nickerson, 20, an electrical engineering student. “It’s about cooperation between people of different faiths and bringing together people who wouldn’t normally consider themselves religious.”
Harvard has fallen away from its founding in 1636 as a Christian seminary and its 1692 motto: “Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae” or “Truth for Christ and the Church.”
