{"id":578,"date":"2008-03-14T11:43:00","date_gmt":"2008-03-14T11:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2008\/03\/templeton-prize-goes-to-michael-heller.html"},"modified":"2008-03-14T11:43:00","modified_gmt":"2008-03-14T11:43:00","slug":"templeton-prize-goes-to-michael-heller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2008\/03\/templeton-prize-goes-to-michael-heller.html","title":{"rendered":"Templeton Prize goes to Michael Heller"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Th NY Times<\/a> reports that Michael Heller, a professor at the Pontifical Academy of Theology, in Krakow, Poland (sounds like something out of The Golden Compass<\/span>, but it\u2019s a real place<\/a>!) has won the $1.6 million Templeton Prize \u2013 awarded by the eponymous American billionaire fund manager who\u2019s currently a tax exile in the Bahamas.<\/p>\n

The news reports are a bit vague on what Heller\u2019s done to win the dosh (the prize is awarded \u201cfor progress toward research or discoveries about spiritual realities\u201d). It seems that he is an advocate of \u2018non-overlapping magisteria\u2019. In other words, critical thinking and rational thought alone can\u2019t give us \u2018meaning\u2019 \u2013 we have to pretend there is a sky fairy to get that.<\/p>\n

In a telephone interview, Professor Heller explained his affinity for the two fields: \u201cI always wanted to do the most important things, and what can be more important than science and religion? Science gives us knowledge, and religion gives us meaning. Both are prerequisites of the decent existence.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How pretence in sky fairies gives you meaning is not explored. Nor is the interesting question of why it so happens that people with no belief in a sky fairy still manage to lead lives that are every bit as meaningful and fulfilled (if not more so).<\/p>\n

Still, the prize will be awarded by Prince Philip, who\u2019s always good for a laugh (and is perhaps trying the wrest the title of barmiest royal from his son\u2026)<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Th NY Times reports that Michael Heller, a professor at the Pontifical Academy of Theology, in Krakow, Poland (sounds like something out of The Golden Compass, but it\u2019s a real place!) has won the $1.6 million Templeton Prize \u2013 awarded by the eponymous American billionaire fund manager who\u2019s currently a tax exile in the Bahamas. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2091,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nTempleton Prize goes to Michael Heller<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Th NY Times reports that Michael Heller, a professor at the Pontifical Academy of Theology, in Krakow, Poland (sounds like something out of The Golden\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2008\/03\/templeton-prize-goes-to-michael-heller.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Templeton Prize 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