Desmond Tutu, the 81 year old former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town who rose to international fame as he helped lead the fight against apartheid in South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s, was named the 2013 Templeton Prize winner Thursday.
The honor, which comes with a $1.7 million award, is given annually by the West Conshohocken, Penn.-based John Templeton Foundation. It has, in recent years, been awarded to academics who work at the nexus of religion and science.
Tutu is being awarded for his promotion of what the foundation calls "spiritual progress," including love, forgiveness and human liberation, especially after the fall of apartheid when he chaired South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The commission addressed tensions between perpetrators of the apartheid state and reformers, and granted amnesty on both sides to hundreds of requests out of thousands that were submitted. It is considered key to the nation's democratic transition in the 1990s.
A well deserved price in my opinion
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