Monday, January 05, 2004
Award Given For Insight Into Divinity
Every March, the winner of the most lucrative award on Earth -- about $1 million -- is announced. The Templeton Prize is given not to artists or peace activists but to "entrepreneurs" working to "expand human perceptions of divinity and to help in the acceleration of divine creativity," according to the John Templeton Foundation, which awards the prize.
For the first 18 years of its existence, the Templeton Prize was given to well-known religious figures such as Billy Graham and Mother Teresa. But three years ago, the focus of the prize was changed to reflect an intense interest of the foundation's benefactor, retired financier Sir John Templeton. It is now given to a figure who has contributed to the dialogue between science and religion. In 2003, it was given to the Rev. Holmes Rolston, a pioneer in the field of religion and ecology.
"The big questions are: Does the universe have a purpose? How do you understand agape, or altruistic love?" said Charles Harper, executive director of the foundation.
The foundation has not been stingy in promoting efforts to discover the answers. Within the next few months, if anticipated gifts materialize, the foundation will have assets of about $2 billion, Harper said, and including the Templeton Prize it dispenses about $25 million a year in grants and program monies.
"One cannot minimize the effect of $20 million a year in one field, especially in the humanities, where funding normally comes in the tens of thousands of dollars," said Philip Clayton, professor of theology at Claremont (Calif.) School of Theology, who directed an eight-year, $5 million project funded by Templeton, Science and the Spiritual Quest. "On the positive side, the funding has allowed people to explore questions they otherwise couldn't have explored."
Almost single-handedly, say those who have labored to reconcile science and religion, John Templeton has boosted into prominence and credibility a field that was previously obscure and treated with skepticism.
The Rev. Philip Hefner, former director of the Zygon Center for Religion and Science at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, praised the Templeton Foundation, especially for coaxing scientists to discuss their personal beliefs, something they might have been unwilling to do previously.
"It's made a tremendous impact for the good, although it's not clear how much of it is lasting. It's encouraged so many people to come out of the woodwork," he said.
Templeton also advocates what he calls "humility theology," which disregards doctrine in favor of a complete openness to ideas about God. Some Templeton Prize winners, such as Freeman Dyson, have proposed concepts long considered heretical to monotheistic traditions.
"Sir John is a boundary-pusher," Harper said. "He has hopes that religion could have the kind of dynamism that science and business have, if people are serious enough to seek it. He looks at religious disputes and says those should be solved. Religion should be more of a force for good in the world than polarized and ethnically balkanized."
Hefner expressed admiration for Templeton and his use of personal wealth to improving life.
"He has a stubborn, persistent, common-sense concern for religion and spirituality making an impact on the human condition. He's on the side of the angels, as far as I'm concerned," he said.
Among other projects promoted by the Templeton Foundation is research on forgiveness, which Harper said has applications for all kinds of disputes from local to international.
"Science includes monstrous things and wonderful things. We're particularly interested in people who have integrated into their lives the best of both worlds," he said.
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