Meet the New AHA Staff Member: Claire Mulvey
Please welcome the AHA’s new Legal and Policy Assistant, Claire Mulvey!
What is your educational and work background?
Like many young professionals, my career thus far has been a bit of trial and error. I graduated from Providence College a couple of years ago with a major in History & double minors in Political Science and Asian Studies. I had to pay my own way through college, which led to me having a lot of interesting side hustles. I’ve done everything from bartending, Chipotle (a woman threw a burrito at my head once), waitressing at a breakfast place where I also lowkey became the owners’ marriage counselor, tutoring, and museum gigs. I also had the privilege of studying abroad in Dublin, Ireland (no side hustles there though, because I didn’t have a work visa)!
After graduation, I did a short stint in something adjacent to private equity consulting, but realized really quickly that it didn’t align with my values or professional goals. I then pivoted to working as a paralegal at a business immigration law firm in Providence, Rhode Island, where I worked for a year and a half. Now, I’m here!
Claire Mulvey
How did you first learn about humanism?
I first learned of humanism in a liberal arts class at my Catholic college. It was brought up in the context of secular humanism being inferior to theism (and ultimately Christianity). I was deconstructing at the time, and I remember feeling so frustrated that non-religious people were perceived as being intellectually and morally inferior in some way. I feared that if I was forthcoming about my secular beliefs, I would be seen as dumber or lesser than by my teachers and peers because I did not see the world in the same way they did. I didn’t clock myself as a humanist right then, but I ultimately came to realize that it’s a great way to describe me and what I believe about the world (and the people in it!).
Did you grow up in a traditional religious faith? How did it impact you?
I was raised Catholic and did Sunday School and choir and the whole nine yards. I was definitely a menace though, always digging for plot holes in the Bible that my teachers couldn’t explain (like what happened to the fish during Noah’s Ark?). I also went to a truly one-of-a-kind private grade school. My family didn’t know it, but it was run by a new-age cult called the School of Economic Science, and they were giving out generous scholarships because their enrollment was so low. That unique environment exposed me to a wide array of different religious beliefs and life philosophies, leading to some amazing interfaith friendships. On top of that, the classical education I received sparked my interest in history, philosophy, theology, and politics. Honestly, looking back, I’m pretty grateful for the experience!
My high school years were basically taken over by a local non-denominational Christian youth group; I was there four out of seven days a week, either at events, volunteering, or attending a service. I also attended a Catholic high school run by the Dominican Order of Preachers, a religious order that prioritizes pursuing truth through academic study. I really leaned into that, so I was constantly digging for the ‘truth’ and challenging my religion teachers on Catholic theology. This is where the early cracks in my faith began to form. I found it absurd that a supposedly just and loving God would condemn someone to an eternity of conscious torment just for not picking the “correct” religion or getting all its theological tenets right. What were the chances I was just serendipitously born into the one true faith anyway?
As I started Catholic college, I continued my pursuit of truth, but the answers I found were progressively more unsettling. It sickened me to realize how often dominant religious groups weaponize their teachings for political gain and to reinforce oppressive systems. The harm religious institutions often cause became even clearer, and I started questioning if I could even reconcile my progressive values with my religious beliefs. As my ideas continued to shift, I ended up deconstructing from religion entirely. Today, I’d say the best way to describe myself is probably a humanist and agnostic.
As a history lover, I still have a great appreciation for many rituals and traditions that come from religion, and I’m a huge theology nerd. I especially love finding commonalities between religions and analyzing the ways that religious groups and beliefs have shaped human society. I also still feel a pull towards Catholic traditions (especially holidays) because they are part of my cultural heritage, but ultimately, I’ve found that a belief system that posits that some people will end up tortured forever is really not for me personally.
What interested you most about working for the American Humanist Association?
My time in the private sector made me realize that I love writing and legal work, but I noticed I was spending so much time off the clock doom-scrolling and catastrophizing about the current state of things in the US, and wishing that I could be doing more. I realized that it was really important to me not only to have a job that is values-aligned, but one where I am enacting the direct change that I wish to see in the US on a daily basis instead of sitting around worrying about if anyone else is going to do it instead. It would be ideal to have many of my passions outside of work actually relate to my job. The AHA seems like it will be that place for me!
What book has influenced you the most?
…Is it okay if I say the Bible? I probably wouldn’t identify as a humanist if I didn’t thoroughly study the Bible and form my own opinions as a teen and young adult. And you can’t deny that as a piece of literature, it’s fascinating to read and study, especially through an anthropological/sociological lens.
Other than that, I tend to be most influenced by whatever I’m reading at the current moment. Some recent favorites of mine include Yellowface by R.F. Kuang, Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green, and Born A Crime by Trevor Noah.
(I’m also trying to read 100 books in 2025 – follow along on my StoryGraph to see if I manage it! My account is @crywithclaire)
If you could have dinner with any three people in the world (living or dead), who would they be and why?
I’d love to chat with the recently deceased Pope Francis. I think it’s important for religious and nonreligious folks to build coalitions around issues that are important to both groups, such as environmentalism and poverty alleviation, and Vatican politics aside, he seemed to be a proponent of that too.
I also would love Octavia Butler to be there because I want to know what she had planned for the Parable series, and I also want her reaction to the state of things in 2025. I think she’d have a lot to say!
I’d also love to get Irish singer-songwriter Andrew Hozier-Byrne (AKA Hozier). His lyrics are very literary (to say the least), and he gives off that vaguely guilty ex-Catholic vibe that I deeply connect to. A conversation with him would surely reveal more layers to his already lyrically dense discography.
I think together, the four of us would have a really interesting conversation about spirituality, literature, mythology, social justice, colonialism, environmental justice, and more.