https://thejewishvoice.com/2021/09/an-atheist-chaplain-at-harvard/
Active rejection of the most basic concept in Judaism—belief in G-d—by a religious figure is pretty fringe stuff in the eyes of most American Jews.
The news media had a field day recently with the man-bites-dog story of the self-proclaimed atheist who was recently named Chief Chaplain at Harvard University. The New York Times wrote about it positively, even quoting a former haredi Harvard co-ed who approves. After nearly 400 years of having chief chaplains who believe in G-d, Harvard has gone in a surprising new direction. Not only that, but the new head chaplain, Greg Epstein, is Jewish and a graduate of the rabbinical ordination program at an institution called the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism.
Undoubtedly some parents of Jewish students at Harvard will be troubled at the prospect of their sons or daughters possibly coming under the influence of a passionate advocate of atheism. Active rejection of the most basic concept in Judaism—belief in G-d—by a religious figure is pretty fringe stuff in the eyes of most American Jews.
The problem is not that someone is an atheist; that’s his business. The problem is that Greg Epstein presents himself as a rabbi, although his core belief system is rejected by every Jewish religious denomination of note—Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist.
The power of the “rabbi” title is that it confers Jewish legitimacy and respectability on whatever the rabbi, even a self-proclaimed one, says. Jewish students at Harvard who don’t know better will hear that “the rabbi” said something, and assume that what he said represents Judaism, not just a tiny fringe element on the Jewish spectrum.
Whether Greg Epstein will influence Jewish students’ religious beliefs remains to be seen. It could be argued that these students are more likely to be influenced by their professors, whom they often perceive as experts and authority figures.
