Desmond Tutu awarded £1.1m Templeton Prize

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been awarded a £1.1 million prize for “affirming life’s spiritual dimension”.

The 81-year-old landed the 2013 Templeton Prize for his lifelong work in advancing spiritual principles such as love and forgiveness which have helped to liberate people around the world, organisers said.

The former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town said: “When you are in a crowd and you stand out from the crowd it’s usually because you are being carried on the shoulders of ­others.

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“I want to acknowledge all the wonderful people who accepted me as their leader at home and so to accept this prize in a representative capacity.”

The Templeton Prize has been the world’s largest annual monetary award given to an individual for the past 40 years.

Tutu joins a distinguished group of 42 former recipients.

“By embracing such universal concepts of the image of God within each person, Desmond Tutu also demonstrates how 
the innate humanity within each of us is intrinsically tied 
to the humanity between all peoples,” said Dr John M ­Templeton Jr.

Last year’s Templeton Prize Laureate was the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader.

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