Harvard education has appointed a new religion” target=”_blank”>chaplain<.
“We don’t look to a god for answers,” he added. “We are each other’s answers.”
The appointment is sure to strike a nerve, with some already taking to Twitter to express confusion or outright dissatisfaction with the appointment.
“Completely missing the point of the role of a chaplain,” one user posted, saying that the decision made the Harvard label “less prestigious.”
Greg Epstein attends the NY MAG + AE Host Married At First Sight Mixer at Troy Bar on March 12, 2015 in New York City.
(Brad Barket/Getty Images for New York Magazine)
Another user asked why Epstein serves as a chaplain if he doesn’t believe in God, with another user calling his appointment “a grift.”
Epstein was raised Jewish but identifies instead as a humanist – an approach to life “based on reason and … common humanity,” according to the American Humanist website.
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Epstein doesn’t oppose religious expression through text, ideas or practices, but he argues that people who doubt the existence of a higher power still need their way of developing values, exploring life and sustaining communities.
“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?’ ” Margit Hammerstrom, Harvard’s Christian Science chaplain, told the Times. “But in this environment it works. Greg is known for wanting to keep lines of communication open between different faiths.”
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A survey conducted by the Harvard Crimson in 2019 found that the class comprised of 21% agnostic and 17% atheist students, compared to 17% Catholics, 10% Jewish and 3% Hindus and Muslims, The Daily Mail reported.