It doesn't seem to me they're doing anything terribly subversive. Even the thing you linked to didn't look too bad - they even have Christopher Hitchens up there.
Like I said, they're a sneaky bunch. Out of 13 contributors, they invite three or four forthright atheists, just to make it seem like they're being fair. The rest are theists (one Muslim and lots of Christians) or 'faitheists', agnostics and pantheists who believe in belief.
It seems like some sort of newagey softboiled ecumenical pantheism might just be the way to cut the knot between angry atheists and angry theists. Pragmatism moves me to think they're on the right side here.
First, the Templeton Foundation's current president, John Templeton Jr., is an evangelical Christian. The softboiled pantheism you think you're seeing is Christianity hidden by prodigious volumes of smoke.
Second, whatever happened to caring about the truth? Would you also say that belief in a cube-shaped Earth might just be the way to cut the knot between angry round-Earthers and angry flat-Earthers?
It's interesting to compare the 1996 Templeton site:
The Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion (especially spiritual information through science) is awarded each year to a living person who shows extraordinary originality in advancing humankind's understanding of God.
to the current site:
The Prize is intended to recognize exemplary achievement in work related to life's spiritual dimension.
Another one. Old:
...
- Create and fund projects forging stronger relationships and insights linking the sciences and all religions
- Apply scientific methodology to
Eliezer Yudkowsky and Scott Aaronson - Percontations: Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Mechanics
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