The Tufts Freethought Society (TFS) is spearheading a push to bring a Humanist chaplain to Tufts in an effort to cater to the sizeable population of Tufts students who do not affiliate themselves with a religion.
The initiative is based on TFS' belief that a growing body of non-religious students lack a necessary spiritual guide.
There is an "unfulfilled need at Tufts for a non-religious community that addresses the spiritual needs of secular students," said freshman Yulia Korovikov, TFS's public relations executive.
TFS has a growing contingency of its own, made up of over 150 members, approximately 20 of whom meet each week, according to Korovikov.
The society hopes to enlighten the Tufts community about Humanism. Many individuals who do not identify with a particular religion come to see their own beliefs as Humanist upon learning about the philosophy, Korovikov said.
"Many non-religious individuals come to identify with Humanism once they discover it, so our first goal is to provide people with information about Humanism," she said.
Humanism is a non-theistic philosophy centered predominantly on human rights issues and morality.
According to Korovikov, in the Enrolling Student Survey of the Class of 2012, 33.3 percent of respondents marked "none" when specifying religion. 59.5 percent of now-sophomores responded.
These students had a plurality in the class; close to 19 percent identified as Jewish, 18 percent as Catholic and a little over 2 percent each identified as Protestant and Muslim.
While Jewish, Catholic, Protestant and Muslim students all have a respective chaplaincy, students who do not align with a particular religion are not represented through a chaplaincy at Tufts.
"Many other religious groups at Tufts have an anchor, a chaplain, who acts as the fountainhead of their community … but it can be difficult to feel fully accepted in the group and seek out spiritual or life advice from leaders who hold very fixed and different religious beliefs," Korovikov said. "A Humanist chaplain would create a community that specifically supports the largest religious identification on campus: the nonreligious community."
Greg Epstein, the Humanist chaplain at Harvard University, said that a Humanist chaplaincy fulfills a specific need on college campuses.
"There's something unique about a humanist chaplaincy, something special about it," Epstein told the Daily. "It's a unique acknowledgement that you can have a community, the same support and guidance without the traditional belief in God and the traditional religious aspects."
Epstein pioneered the Humanist movement both at Harvard and at large through his newly released book "Good without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe." He said that a Humanist chaplaincy is "something very real, very practical and very much needed."
In an effort to promote the Humanist belief that secularism does not negatively impact an individual's ability to do good, TFS is launching a campaign this week to help other groups on campus improve the success of their philanthropic efforts.
Korovikov added that TFS pledges to commit time and manpower to a minimum of one good cause on campus each week. Each member of the organization will dedicate at least one hour a week to help a charity organization with the aim of increasing the effectiveness and success of different groups' causes.
Epstein believes that bringing a Humanist chaplain to Tufts would enact large-scale positive change on campus.
"Looking back, people would say that Tufts made a wise decision, made a good decision and made a decision that improved things for everyone," he said.
TFS similarly hopes that gaining a Humanist chaplain at Tufts would be beneficial for its effect on students and the message it would send about the university. "It would establish Tufts as the only university in the Boston metro area, other than Harvard, to have a Humanist chaplaincy" Korovikov said. "This move will bolster Tufts' position as a premier, groundbreaking and forward thinking institution."
