"Religion is a lived thing. It is practiced as it is understood and adhered to by its adherents and its followers. And that means it is always changing and evolving. So two communities within the same branch may practice their religion very differently," said Judy Beals, associate director of the Religious Literacy Project.

On a recent Wednesday, Noam Shuster-Eliassi strolled around the tiny village in Israel where she grew up, Neve Shalom or "Oasis of Peace," wishing goodbye to her neighbors. The Israeli comedian was heading to Harvard University in just a few days for to serve as a visiting fellow with the Religion, Conflict, and Peace Initiative of the Religious Literacy Project at HDS. There, she will be writing an hourlong comedy show in Hebrew, English, and Arabic. She is calling it, “Coexistence My Ass.”

Thanks to the Religious Literacy Project at Harvard Divinity School, which guides teachers in incorporating a constitutionally sound approach to presenting the interplay between culture and religion, students are developing better understanding of how the multiple facets of religion influence human experience.