About Us

The Humanist Chaplaincy is dedicated to building, educating, and nurturing a diverse community of Humanists, agnostics, atheists, and the non-religious at Harvard and beyond.
Founded three decades ago by former Catholic priest Tom Ferrick, the Chaplaincy has long been a pioneer in making the college campus a safe, encouraging place for Humanist, agnostic, atheist and non-religious students. We also have a long history of supporting religious diversity in campus life, and defending the right of each individual student to choose the meaning of his or her life. For more than thirty years, we have stood for “deeds before creeds” at the world’s leading educational institution. Rooted in the values of Humanism and pluralism, we seek to advance dialogue among (and transcending the boundaries of) religions, cultures, and civilizations.
To learn more about us see for example:

• Peabody Award-winning public radio program Speaking of Faith, which created an entire hour-long episode around us in March 2008.
• The Boston Globe's Sunday Magazine, which ran a cover story, "The Nonbelievers" about us in September 2007.
• Our photos on Flickr.
• Some of our videos on Youtube.

Whether or not you have a Harvard affiliation we invite you to Join Our Mailing List.
 
Until recent years, the Humanist Chaplaincy has hewn to an unofficial policy of eschewing extensive publicity. Nonetheless, in the nineteen-nineties we attracted the attention of John Langeloth Loeb, one of the great philanthropic benefactors in Harvard’s history. Loeb was in the process of finalizing his last and largest gift to Harvard– valued at well over one hundred million dollars– when he chanced to read about the Humanist Chaplaincy in the Harvard Gazette. Loeb had never so much as heard the word Humanism before, yet he was immediately intrigued. He soon discovered that he himself was a Humanist, and after getting to know the always-modest Tom Ferrick, Loeb decided to endow the Humanist Chaplaincy; this gift, according to the New York Times, gave Loeb the “greatest delight” of any of his philanthropic gifts. The Humanist Chaplaincy now possesses an endowment significant enough to make it a permanent part of Harvard University, though the conditions of the endowment are such that the funds or even their earnings will not be accessible for perhaps an entire generation. As the organization now seeks to grow under new leadership, new support will be essential.
The Humanist Chaplaincy today sponsors a wide variety of events and programs throughout the academic year. Check out our calendar to find out what is coming up, such as lectures and symposia featuring world-famous Humanists, weekly individual student “lunches with the Humanist Chaplain,” cultural events, intimate group discussions, interfaith service opportunities, and more. On April 20-21, 2007, we celebrated our 30th Anniversary with an extremely special weekend conference, which drew a huge, international audience and generated vigorous discussion in the international media.
We are looking forward to seeing you and hearing from you!