A prize awarded for "progress in
religion". The person to whom it is awarded must have contributed to our understanding of
God in an original way. It is not meant to be limited to any
religion or another. However, it tends to take a very
Western view of things. Prize winners have included
Freeman Dyson,
Paul Davies and
Billy Graham.
It was set up by John Templeton, who felt that the Nobel Prize was ignoring the contribution to humanity of religion. It's worth 600,000 British pounds (about US$950,000).
Home page: http://www.templetonprize.org/