Tomáš Halik – 2014 Press Release

Tomáš Halík, a Czech priest and philosopher who risked imprisonment for illegally advancing religious and cultural freedoms after the Soviet invasion of his country, and has since become a leading international advocate for dialogue among different faiths and non-believers, has won the 2014 Templeton Prize.

Condemned by his nation’s communist government as an “enemy of the regime” in 1972, Halík, 65, spent nearly two decades organizing and building an extensive secret network of academics, theologians, philosophers and students dedicated to cultivating the intellectual and spiritual underpinnings for the democratic state he and others envisioned.

Those years of groundwork and counselling to liberation leaders such as Václav Havel and Cardinal FrantišekTomášek helped Czechoslovakia transition to democracy following the “Velvet Revolution” of 1989. 

Since that time, Msgr. Prof. Tomáš Halík has advocated religious tolerance and understanding through his writings and lectures by sharing ideas and beliefs among followers of widely varying cultural and spiritual traditions and, notably, non-believers.  His approaches to interfaith dialogue include proposing that the long intellectual tradition of Catholicism well positions it as a bridge among diverse Western secularism, traditional religions and Islamic culture.  At the press conference, Halík announced that he will continue those efforts with the proceeds from the Prize.

Valued at £1.1 million (about $1.8 million or €1.3 million), the Prize is one of the world’s largest annual awards given to an individual and honors a living person who has made exceptional contributions to affirming life’s spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works.  The announcement was made at a news conference today at the British Academy in London by the John Templeton Foundation, based in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.

Rigorous intellectual investigations on matters of mind and spirit, including annual month-long retreats of isolation and reflection, motivate Halík’s worldview.  These quiet pursuits have allowed him to contemplate the very essence of the Big Questions that have become a hallmark of the Templeton Prize and reflect the deep interest of its founder Sir John Templeton, the late global investor and philanthropist, in fostering and recognizing spiritual progress.  In five videos available on the Prize website, www.templetonprize.org, Halík examines topics including whether evil in the world proves there is no God and whether God is an answer or a question.

To that latter inquiry, he responds, in part, “Answers without questions are like trees without roots. But how often are ‘Christian truths’ presented to us like felled, lifeless trees in which birds can no longer find a nest?  Only the confrontation of questions and answers can return a real meaning and dynamic to our statements. Truth happens in the course of dialogue.”

Much of Halík’s work to promote a culture of dialogue among different faiths as well as non-believers has been based within the Czech Christian Academy, one of the nation’s largest civic associations.  It grew out of the illegal “underground university” and “underground church” of students and scholars he helped found during the communist years to create the “moral and spiritual biosphere” to prepare Czech society for life in freedom. 

“At the time of the ‘Velvet Revolution’ 25 years ago, my friend Václav Havel expressed the hope that ‘truth and love’ would triumph over lies and hatred,” said Halík at today’s news conference.  “That is an enormous and difficult task for the entire remainder of history.  In the rest of my life I would like to do some small things that would bring light and warmth to people in our world.”

The Templeton Prize, as with the Big Questions posed by the award, is a cornerstone of the John Templeton Foundation’s international efforts to serve as a philanthropic catalyst for discoveries relating to human purpose and ultimate reality.

Dr. John M. Templeton, Jr., president and chairman of the John Templeton Foundation, noted today that Prof. Halík epitomized spiritual progress in his pursuit of greater truths.  “Whether risking prison to liberate the minds of his nation or daring to engage views that many keepers of the faith would shun as heretical, Tomáš Halík has continually opened vistas that advance humankind,” said Templeton.  “Rising to these challenges, he inspires us all to break free of repression, whether it comes from a totalitarian government or our own blinkered world view.”

In nominating Halík for the Prize, Karel Schwarzenberg, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, praised Halík’s ability to bring together people of many different faiths, including atheists and agnostics, writing, “For many years, Prof. Halík has been building bridges

between various religions, cultures and nations. Through his life and work, he has helped foster respect for spiritual and religious values among secular public opinion.”

Halík became dedicated to the struggle for freedom from Communism in his homeland after a fellow student – Jan Palach – killed himself by self-immolation in Prague’s central square in 1969.  Soon after helping to organize the martyr’s requiem, Halík resolved to enter the priesthood.  He was clandestinely ordained in 1978 in East Germany, an event kept secret even from his mother.

Monsignor Professor Tomáš Halík has been Professor of the Sociology of Religion in the Faculty of Art at the Department of Religious Studies at Charles University in Prague since 1997.

He is the author of many books, translated into 15 languages, which chiefly focus on a spiritual diagnosis of contemporary times and the dialogue between faith and atheism.  His book, Patience with God, was named European Theological Book of 2009-10.

Prof. Halík joins a distinguished group of 43 former recipients, including Mother Teresa, who received the inaugural Prize award in 1973, Rev. Billy Graham (1982) and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1983).  Last year’s Templeton Prize recipient, Desmond Tutu, the former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, followed the 2012 Templeton Laureate, the Dalai Lama.

He will be formally awarded the Templeton Prize at a public ceremony in London in May.