THE RELIGIOUS LITERACY PROJECT
TOOLS FOR HUMAN FLOURISHING Our civic dialogue has broken down at a time when a robust public conversation on issues like global security, climate change, health care, and human rights is critical for securing a future of peace and prosperity. A critical factor in this dissolution is a lack of understanding of the religious influences that shape people’s identities, lives, relationships, and communities. This often leads to bigotry and prejudice that prevent collaboration and effective action. With support from the Campaign for Harvard Divinity School, the Religious Literacy Project (RLP) addresses this crisis by enhancing public understanding of religion in order to mitigate its negative consequences and encourage its positive expression. Through critical scholarship—rather than devotional expression—the project’s work goes well beyond education about the beliefs and rituals associated with the world’s religious traditions. The RLP gives leaders the conceptual tools to place religion in social, political, and historical context so that they can understand how religion promotes—and, too often, thwarts—human flourishing.
RLP DIRECTOR DIANE L. MOORE Diane L. Moore leverages both her 40-year history working with educators and HDS’s longstanding expertise in the world’s religious traditions to advance understanding of the complex roles religions play in all dimensions of human experience. A Senior Fellow at Harvard Divinity School’s Center for the Study of World Religions and Lecturer on Religion, Conflict, and Peace, Moore also directs the Certificate in Religious Studies and Education (in partnership with Harvard Extension School) and is a Faculty Affiliate at Harvard Kennedy School’s Middle East Initiative.
THE FOUR PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS LITERACY RELIGIOUS EXPRESSION IS DISTINCT FROM THE CRITICAL STUDY OF RELIGION. RELIGIONS ARE INTERNALLY DIVERSE. RELIGIONS CHANGE AND EVOLVE OVER TIME. RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES ARE EMBEDDED IN ALL AREAS OF HUMAN ACTIVITY.
HARVARD DIVINITY SCHOOL’S RELIGIOUS LITERACY PROJECT BUILDS UNDERSTANDING OF GLOBAL RELIGION TO HELP CITIZENS AND LEADERS WORK FOR A JUST WORLD AT PEACE
“A better understanding of the complex roles that religions play in human experience can minimize antagonisms and promote peaceful coexistence in local, national, and global arenas. The RLP is at the center of Harvard Divinity School’s commitment to foster religious literacy in the service of a just world at peace across religious and cultural divides.” David N. Hempton, Dean of the Faculty of Divinity
