Humanism is a life stance, not a religion without God, said Greg Epstein.

Epstein, humanist chaplain at Harvard University, discussed what it means to be a humanist on March 12, 2013, in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union.

Epstein said that humanists have a variety of values that include reason, compaction, creativity, justice, awareness, equality, feminism, science, progress, and pluralism.

“If those sound like things that you value, and not for particularly religious reasons, I might say welcome to your community. Welcome home,” Epstein said.

Epstein said there are three things that inspire a humanist. The first thing is the concept of reality.

“Acknowledging that the world is what it is, that it’s no more and it’s no less. That means that it is often a complicated and lonely and unfriendly place,” Epstein said.

Epstein said there is no need to feel successful and beautiful all of the time. Humanists are allowed to have whatever feelings and thoughts they want. There is no feeling one can have that is going to make them a bad person or the world a bad place.

Acknowledging change is the second thing that inspires a humanist, Epstein said. The world is going to change and humanists want to see it get better rather than worse.

“Part of humanism is inevitably thinking about what it would take to push a boulder all the way up the hill. To move forward, to move up, to make progress,” Epstein said.

The third thing that inspires humanists is connection to the world. This is the idea that people don’t have to be alone; they can help and care for each other without religion.

“To me a humanist is someone who is judged on his or her actions. A humanist is someone who is judged on what you have done to acknowledge reality and to help other people to connect and to reach out yourself, with all of your own vulnerability, and connect,” Epstein said. “To be a human being, in the full sense of that word, that’s a humanist to me. It’s a human being who can connect with people, religious or secular.”

Epstein is one of 36 chaplains at Harvard University. A chaplain is someone who serves an institution. A chaplain started out as a Christian role, however there are now chaplains for all types of religions, and now there are chaplains for atheists and humanists.

Around 1.1 billion people around the world identify themselves with no religion. Epstein stressed the importance of community and organization for humanism as it emerges in our culture. Many communities have been formed, especially among college students.

“It’s not just surveys now; you also got institutions and communities being formed. For example, there’s a group called the Secular Student Alliance. They are a national organization; they are based in Columbus, Ohio,” Epstein said. “The Secular Student Alliance has been spreading the idea of communities for secular, humanist, and atheist students around the country.”

There are many other examples of humanist communities, such as communities on social media and summer camps for high school children. Epstein said there are many church alternatives for atheists and humanists around the world.

“I’m working on a project that’s working on designing things like Sunday school equivalents for kids of humanists families,” said Epstein “How do you teach kids who are non-religious and humanist what it means to be a good person, to be part of society?”

He is also working on projects that have to do with ceremonies such as weddings and funerals. Epstein explained that these things are still relevant to celebrating community.

However, it might be a while before for the humanist and atheist will be equal in society. There is currently only one non-religious member of Congress, and atheists are not allowed to join the Boy Scouts.

Epstein said there are many progressive and open-minded religious communities in the world. He said the humanist community intends to join with open-minded and thoughtful religious communities of the world.

“We really actually have more in common then we do have separate,” said Epstein. “You actually have the ability to bring together a majority of people in this country now who, regardless of humanism or religion, are thoughtful, open-minded, and progressive and want a better world for all people. That is very important.”

After the lecture, many stayed in the Great Hall to discuss the lecture and new ideas.

“I think the lecture was very interesting. I, myself, am a Christian so I found some of the things he said hard to grasp,” said Adam Hermann,  senior in communications studies. “I’d like to think it’s true that people can be good without God. I think that’s important to know.”