Archbishop Desmond Tutu is 2013 Templeton Prize Awardee

“This is a moral universe and right and wrong matter. And mercifully, gloriously, right will prevail.”
–Desmond Tutu

For his lifelong work on promoting the Christian values of forgiveness, love and the affirmation of spirituality, former Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu of Cape Town, South Africa has been chosen for the 2013 Templeton Prize. The archbishop is the 43rd recipient of the award to date. He is now 81 years old; born in 1931 at Klerksdorp, Transvaal.

The award-giving ceremony will be held on May 21, 2013 at London, England. The award comes with a generous prize money amounting to £1.1m or more than one and a half million US dollars. The Templeton award is considered as the most important award in the field of religion and spirituality. This award is also the largest monetary prize given in the world.

Veteran peace campaigner

Dr. John Templeton, Jr. hails Desmond Tutu’s demonstration of humanity and singular ability to recognize the image of God in each human being. The award giving body calls him the “moral voice” for people who do not have their own. Tutu goes beyond teaching his ideas of peace – he also lives it. After his ordination in 1960 he moved up the ranks of the church and he used his position for his activism and avidly protested against the white-dominant government of his native South Africa. When he retired Tutu continued to campaign for world peace and various humanitarian causes.

In response to the tremendous honor given him, Archbishop Tutu said that he acknowledges everyone who accepted him as their leader and that he accepts the prize “in a representative capacity,” having been “carried on the shoulders of others.”

The world-famous peace campaigner was the recipient of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation for Africa in 2012. In recognition of his role in ending apartheid in his native country, Tutu was chosen for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. After receiving this very prominent award Tutu continued working to help the victims of racial discrimination.

The Templeton Prize

The Prize was founded in 1972. The founder, philanthropist Sir John Templeton was born in the United States and was knighted in 1987 by the British Monarch, a couple of decades after he was naturalized as a British citizen. Templeton amassed his wealth from Wall Street. He died in 2008 but the award that he established is still being continued by the John Templeton Foundation. It is specifically intended to single out and reward living individuals who affirm human spirituality and does not prefer one faith or religion over the other.

The first awardee of the Templeton Prize was Mother Teresa in 1973. Other prominent awardees are Martin Rees (astrophysicist from the United Kingdom) and Charles Taylor (Canadian philosopher). The 2012 Templeton Prize recipient is the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet. Tutu and the Dalai Lama are the only two Nobel laureates who are also Templeton Prize awardees.

Tutu was nominated by a professor of history at Auburn University Steven Gish. He called Tutu a genuine “entrepreneur of the spirit.”