"There is something about this environment which allows people to either discover for the first time or rediscover their religious identity," Gomes explained.
The fifth group of religious identity, which Gomes said has always been here, is "those for whom religion is, in some sense, a threat, for whom religion is a cultural liability."
"Historically, Harvard has always had [a] coexistence of religious and secular ideas," Gomes said.
Towards the end of his remarks, Gomes gave a few personal impressions of what it means to be religious at Harvard.
The Puritans who founded Harvard, he said, "could not have imagined the religious diversity and vitality of their little college on the Charles 375 years later."
"God has an imagination and a sense of humor and a divine purpose which we are yet to fulfill," Gomes said.