John Templeton Foundation

John Templeton (29 November 1912 – 8 July 2008) was an American-born British investor, banker, fund manager, and philanthropist. In 1954, he entered the mutual fund market and created the Templeton Growth Fund.{{cite news|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/business/09templeton-cnd.html|title=Sir John M. Templeton, Philanthropist, Rockstar, Dies at 95|date=9 July 2000|first=Robert D.|last=McFadden}}

John Templeton Jr. was president of the foundation from its inception in 1987. He worked as a pediatric surgeon, and he was chief of pediatric surgery at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in 1995, when he stopped practicing medicine to join the foundation. He took over as chairman when his father died. He was an evangelical Christian and supported various American conservative causes.{{cite news |title=John M. Templeton Jr., Who Led Foundation, Dies at 75 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/20/us/john-m-templeton-jr-who-led-foundation-dies-at-75.html |work=Associated Press via the New York Times |date=May 19, 2015 |language=en}}{{cite web|url=http://articles.philly.com/2008-10-28/news/25263219_1_ban-gay-marriage-heterosexual-marriages-proposition|title=$1 million for their own two cents Bryn Mawr couple are largest individual donors in efforts to ban gay marriage in California.|work=Philadelphia Inquirer |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216130758/http://articles.philly.com/2008-10-28/news/25263219_1_ban-gay-marriage-heterosexual-marriages-proposition|archive-date=December 16, 2013 |first=David |last=O'Reilly|date=October 28, 2008}} He always maintained that he tried to run the foundation according to his father's wishes instead of his own.{{cite news |last1=Olasky |first1=Marvin |title=Jack Templeton dies at age 75 |url=https://world.wng.org/2015/05/jack_templeton_dies_at_age_75? |work=World Magazine |date=19 May 2015 |language=en}} He died in 2015.

Heather Templeton Dill, the daughter of John Templeton Jr., became president in 2015.{{cite web|title=People in the News (8/02/15): Appointments and Promotions|url=http://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/people-in-the-news-8-02-15-appointments-and-promotions|newspaper=Philanthropy News Digest|date=2 August 2015}}

Templeton bequeathed around $500 million to the foundation when he died in 2008.{{cite journal |last1=Waldrop |first1=M. Mitchell |title=Religion: Faith in science |journal=Nature |date=17 February 2011 |volume=470 |issue=7334 |pages=323–325 |doi=10.1038/470323a|pmid=21331019 |bibcode=2011Natur.470..323W |doi-access=free }} {{open access}} {{As of|2015}} the foundation's total endowment had grown to $3.34 billion. The foundation reports that it has issued over 3,300 grants, with over 2,800 of those going to recipients in North America.{{cite web|url=https://www.templeton.org/about/vision-mission-impact|title=John Templeton Foundation: Our Impact|access-date=March 21, 2019}} In 2016, the foundation disbursed over $151,000,000 in grants.{{cite web|url=https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/621322826/201733059349100703/IRS990PF|title=John Templeton Foundation: Full text of "Form 990PF" for fiscal year ending Dec. 2016|website=ProPublica.com|date=9 May 2013|access-date=March 21, 2019}}

{{main|Templeton Prize}}

File:Mother Teresa 1.jpg received the inaugural Templeton Prize in 1973.]]

File:LowResMarcelo-Gleiser.jpg won the Templeton Prize in 2019.]]

The Templeton Prize was established by John Templeton, and he administered the prize until the foundation was established in 1987, which took it over.{{Cite news | url = http://www.economist.com/obituary/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11745591 |newspaper = The Economist| title= Obituary – John Templeton | access-date=July 2, 2009|date=July 17, 2008}} The prize has "a value of about $1.7 million, making it one of the world’s largest annual awards given to an individual".

The early prizes were given solely to people who had made great achievements in the field of religion; Mother Teresa received the inaugural award in 1973, with other early winners including Sir Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1975),{{Cite web | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/philosopher-wins-163800000-award-for-spiritual-focus-440262.html| work=The Independent|access-date=2 July 2009 | date= 15 March 2007|first=Arifa|last=Akbar|title=Philosopher wins £800,000 award for spiritual focus}} Chiara Lubich (1977),{{cite encyclopedia |url = http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/350399/Chiara-Lubich|title = Lubich, Chiara – Italian Roman Catholic lay leader | access-date=2 July 2009|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica}} and Nikkyō Niwano (1979).{{Cite book | title = The Humble Approach: Scientists Discover God |first=John|last=Templeton|isbn=1-890151-17-3 |publisher=Templeton Foundation Press|pages=170–172|date=1998-05-10}} In the 1980s, John Templeton began considering the intersection of science and religion, and after he appointed two scientists to the judging panel, scientists who worked at this intersection began receiving it; Alister Hardy was the first, in 1987. More recent winners of the Templeton Prize have included the Dalai Lama in 2012,{{cite news|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2012/0329/Dalai-Lama-wins-Templeton-Prize-as-more-than-simple-Buddhist-monk|title=Dalai Lama wins Templeton Prize as more than 'simple Buddhist monk'|newspaper=Christian Science Monitor|first=Ron|last=Scherer|date=March 29, 2012}} King Abdullah II of Jordan in 2018,{{cite web|url=https://religionnews.com/2018/06/27/templeton-prize/|title=King of Jordan wins Templeton Prize for fostering Muslim cooperation|publisher=Religion News Service|first=Chris|last=Herlinger|date=June 27, 2018}} Brazilian Jewish physicist and astronomer Marcelo Gleiser in 2019,{{cite web|url=https://www.jta.org/quick-reads/jewish-physicist-becomes-first-latin-american-to-win-templeton-prize|title=Jewish physicist becomes first Latin American to win Templeton Prize|publisher=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|first=Marcus M.|last=Gilban|date=March 20, 2019}} and primatologist Jane Goodall in 2021.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/may/20/naturalist-jane-goodall-wins-2021-templeton-prize-for-lifes-work |title=Naturalist Jane Goodall wins 2021 Templeton prize for life's work|first1=Harriet|last1=Sherwood|work=The Guardian|date=20 May 2021}}The 2025 winner is the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, the spiritual leader of 300 million Eastern Orthodox Christians.

Templeton "was a great believer in progress, learning, initiative and the power of human imagination—not to mention the free-enterprise system". While most of its funding goes to topics in science, philosophy, and religion, around 40 percent of its annual grants go to character development, genius, freedom, free enterprise, and fields associated with classical liberalism. Grants are given to people across all religions since Templeton believed progress in the field of spirituality could come from anywhere. The field of grants was broadened in the 1980s to include scientific fields like neuroscience, psychology, and cosmology, seen as being aligned with the mission.

Some research programs supported by the foundation have included the development of positive psychology by Martin Seligman, Angela Duckworth and others;{{cite web|url=https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/penn-s-positive-psychology-center-awards-29-million-research-intersecting-neuroscience-and-posi|title=Penn's Positive Psychology Center Awards $2.9 Million for Research|publisher=University of Pennsylvania|date=August 4, 2010}} the Black Hole Initiative at Harvard University;{{cite web|url=http://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/templeton-awards-7.2-million-for-black-hole-initiative|title=Templeton Awards $7.2 Million for Black Hole Initiative|first=Foundation|last=Center|website=Philanthropy News Digest (PND)}}{{cite web|url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/5/11/black-hole-initiative-receives-funding/|title=Black Hole Initiative Receives $7.2 Million in Funding - News - The Harvard Crimson|website=www.thecrimson.com}} the Gen2Gen Encore Prize; the World Science Festival;{{Cite web|url=http://www.worldsciencefestival.com/sponsors/|title=Sponsors and Partners – World Science Festival – June 1–5, 2016 – New York City|website=World Science Festival – June 1–5, 2016 – New York City | access-date= June 20, 2016}} Pew religious demographics surveys;{{cite web|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2018/06/13/the-age-gap-in-religion-around-the-world/|title=The Age Gap in Religion Around the World - Pew Research Center|date=13 June 2018}} and programs that engage with Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant traditions, including support for dialogue with scientists in synagogues,{{cite web|url=https://forward.com/culture/369476/why-these-jewish-scientists-will-be-marching-on-saturday/|title=Why These Jewish Scientists Will Be Marching On Saturday|publisher=The Forward|first=Bonnie|last=Rubin|date=April 19, 2017}} and a grant for advancing scientific literacy in madrasas.{{cite web|url=https://news.nd.edu/news/professor-launches-project-to-advance-scientific-and-theological-literacy-among-madrasa-graduates-in-india/|title=Professor launches project to advance scientific and theological literacy among madrasa graduates in India|publisher=Notre Dame News|first=Joan|last=Fallon|date=April 25, 2016}}{{cite web|url=http://www.newageislam.com/islamic-society/imparting-basic-scientific-literacy-in-madrasas-is-critical/d/117082|title=Imparting Basic Scientific Literacy in Madrasas Is Critical, Islamic Society, Aysha Khan, New Age Islam|website=www.newageislam.com|first=Aysha|last=Khan|date=December 3, 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://www.templeton.org/grant/advancing-scientific-and-theological-literacy-in-madrasa-discourses-in-india|title=Advancing Scientific and Theological Literacy in Madrasa Discourses in India|website=John Templeton Foundation}}

{{As of|2015}}, the foundation awarded nearly a billion dollars in grants and charitable contributions and was the 55th largest grantor among American foundations.

The top ten largest grants as of 2018 were:{{cite web|url=https://www.templeton.org/grants/grant-database|title=Grant Database|website=John Templeton Foundation |year=2018}}

File:Black Holes - Monsters in Space.jpg at Harvard University received a Templeton Foundation grant of over seven million dollars in 2016.]]

The John Templeton Foundation granted over two million dollars in 2019, and then 4.5 million dollars in 2022 to QISS.{{cite web|title=The Quantum Information Structure Of Spacetime (QISS), Phase 1 grant |url=https://www.templeton.org/grant/the-quantum-information-structure-of-spacetime-qiss|work=John Tempelton Foundation |date=2019 |access-date=6 February 2023}}{{cite web|title=The Quantum Information Structure Of Spacetime (QISS), Phase 2 Grant |url=https://www.templeton.org/grant/the-quantum-information-structure-of-spacetime-qiss-second-phase|work=John Tempelton Foundation |date=2022 |access-date=6 February 2023}} The QISS consortium brings together specialists from quantum gravity, quantum information, foundations of quantum mechanics, as well Philosophy of Science. According to the organization, "QISS aims to found the physics of quantum spacetime on an information theoretical basis, bring within reach empirical access to quantum gravity phenomenology leveraging rapidly advancing quantum technologies, and promote interactions between physicists and philosophers. The broader scope of the consortium is to establish a long-term research program that brings together the represented communities."{{Cite web |title=About Us – QISS |url=https://www.qiss.fr/about-us/ |access-date=2025-06-03 |language=en-US}} Marios Christodoulou and Carlo Rovelli are the project leaders.

In 2016, the foundation granted over seven million dollars to the Black Hole Initiative (BHI), an interdisciplinary program at Harvard University that includes the fields of Astronomy, Physics and Philosophy, and is said to be the first center in the world to focus on the study of black holes.{{cite web |title=Black Hole Initiative – Harvard University |url=https://bhi.fas.harvard.edu/ |date=2017 |work=Harvard University |access-date=18 November 2017 }}{{cite web |last=Grigorian |first=Alec J. |title=Black Hole Initiative Receives $7.2 Million in Funding |url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/5/11/black-hole-initiative-receives-funding/ |date=11 May 2016 |work=The Harvard Crimson |access-date=18 November 2017 }}{{cite web |title=The Black Hole Initiative: Towards A Center For Interdisciplinary Research |url=https://www.templeton.org/grant/the-black-hole-initiative-towards-a-center-for-interdisciplinary-research |date=2016 |work=John Templeton Foundation |access-date=18 November 2017 }} Notable principal participants include Sheperd Doeleman, Peter Galison, Avi Loeb, Ramesh Narayan, Andrew Strominger, and Shing-Tung Yau. The BHI Inauguration was held on 18 April 2016 and was attended by Stephen Hawking;{{cite news |last=Reuell |first=Peter |title=Hawking at Harvard – At packed Sanders Theatre, theoretical physicist and cosmologist tackles the contradictory qualities of black holes |url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/04/hawking-at-harvard/ |date=18 April 2016 |work=Harvard University |access-date=18 November 2017 }} related workshop events were held on 19 April 2016.

In 2015, the Santa Fe Institute was awarded a three-year, $2.5 million grant to support the development of a general theory of complexity, constituting "a concise, parsimonious, and potentially mathematizable framework for understanding complex adaptive systems".{{cite web|url=https://www.santafe.edu/news-center/news/JTFgrant-2015-announce-comprehensive-theory-complexity|title=John Templeton Foundation grants SFI $2.5 million to pursue general theory of complexity|publisher=Santa Fe Institute|date=17 March 2015|access-date=19 March 2019}}

File:Prehistoric Tools - Les Combarelles - Les Eyzies de Tayac - MNP.jpg supports the study of what factors led human ancestors to things such as toolmaking.]]

File:Indo-European branches map.svg.]]

In 2016, the foundation awarded $5.4 million to the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution (FfAME) to study the origin of life on Earth, particularly investigating questions of how early RNA interacted with water, which is necessary for life but also degrades RNA, and how the introduction of energy to organic materials yielded life rather than turning it into tar. The project is headed by molecular biophysicist and chemist Steven A. Benner. The foundation also awarded an $8 million grant to a program examining a theory in evolutionary biology called extended evolutionary synthesis. This project is headed by evolutionary biologist Kevin Laland.{{Cite web |url=https://www.quantamagazine.org/scientists-seek-to-update-evolution-20161122/ |title=Scientists Seek to Update Evolution |last=Zimmer |first=Carl |date=2016-11-22 |website=Quanta Magazine |access-date=2018-10-10}}

Several grants specifically supported inquiry into various aspects of human evolution. A 2014 grant of $4.9 million supports an effort at Arizona State University by paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson to explore how we became human, and a $3.2 million grant to Indiana University and the Stone Age Institute supports the study of "what factors led human ancestors to develop skills like making tools, developing language, and seeking out information".

In March 2019, the foundation provided the bulk of a group of grants adding up to over $7 million to enable the Institute for Interdisciplinary Brain and Behavioral Science (The Brain Institute) at Chapman University to examine "how the human brain enables conscious control of decisions and actions".{{cite web|url=https://news.chapman.edu/2019/03/05/brain-institute-receives-over-7-million-for-research-on-neurophilosophy-of-free-will/|title=Brain Institute Receives Over $7 Million for Research on Neurophilosophy of Free Will|publisher=Chapman University|first=Pamela|last=Ezell|date=March 5, 2019}}

A grant from the foundation supports a study of religion and health conducted by Tyler VanderWeele of Harvard University. VanderWeele is the John L. Loeb and Frances Lehman Loeb Professor of Epidemiology in the Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and co-director the University's Initiative on Health, Religion and Spirituality. His research has focused on the application of causal inference to epidemiology, as well as on the relationship between religion and health.{{Cite web |url=https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/tyler-vanderweele/ |title=Tyler VanderWeele |website=Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health |language=en-us |access-date=2019-01-17}}{{Cite magazine |url=https://time.com/5159848/do-religious-people-live-longer/ |title=You Asked: Do Religious People Live Longer? |last=Ducharme |first=Jamie |date=2018-02-15 |magazine=Time |language=en |access-date=2019-01-17}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/05/16/health/religion-lifespan-health/index.html |title=Going to church could help you live longer |last=Storrs |first=Carina |date=2016-05-16 |website=CNN |access-date=2019-01-17}}

In June 2019, the foundation awarded one of its largest grants to the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School for its Ancient DNA Atlas project that seeks to sequence the DNA of ancient human remains to tell the story of human migration and development through the addition of DNA sequences of 10,000 individuals spanning 50,000 years.{{Cite web|url=https://hms.harvard.edu/news/looking-back-future|title=Looking Back to the Future {{!}} Harvard Medical School|website=hms.harvard.edu|date=26 June 2019 |access-date=2019-09-16}} The funding was used to solve a riddle that had puzzled historians, classicists, linguists, anthropologists and archaeologists for 200 years - whether the bulk of the European civilization had arrived from Anatolia or the Pontic Steppes of Central Asia, and how Indo-European languages spread over an enormous geographical area from Britain to India, becoming the largest linguistic group today.{{Cite web|url=https://hms.harvard.edu/news/treasure-trove|title=Treasure Trove {{!}} Harvard Medical School|website=hms.harvard.edu|date=5 September 2019 |access-date=2019-09-16}}

The funding was used to embrace a multi-disciplinary approach and crowd-sourced results before the final manuscripts were completed, receiving commentary and feedback from academics of various institutions on several continents, according to geneticist David Reich, lead researcher on the project. The study was also funded by the governments of the US, Russia, Germany (Max Planck Institute), European Union and India. Results have been published in [https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.aat7487 Science] and [https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(19)30967-5 Cell].

{{Main|Pew Research Center}}

The Pew Research Center, an American fact tank or research organization, has been "jointly and generously funded" by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the foundation for its studies focusing on demographics of religions in the world, part of the series entitled Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures.{{cite web|url=https://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/centers/jesinst/pdf/Grim-globalReligion-full.pdf|title=The Global Religious Landscape: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Major Religious Groups as of 2010|date=December 2012|publisher=Pew Research Center|page=7|quote=This effort is part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project, which analyzes religious change and its impact on societies around the world. The project is jointly and generously funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John Templeton Foundation}}{{cite web|url=http://www.globalreligiousfutures.org/explorer/about|title=Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project|publisher=Pew Research Center}}

The Center on Religion and Chinese Society of the Purdue University in Indiana is funded by the foundation.{{Cite web|title=Purdue sociologist receives $3.5 million grant to study religion in China - Purdue University|url=https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2015/Q2/purdue-sociologist-receives-3.5-million-grant-to-study-religion-in-china.html|access-date=2021-01-21|website=www.purdue.edu}} The current director of the center, the Chinese American Christian scholar Fenggang Yang, has been granted more than $9.5 million to support his projects,{{cite web|url=https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/purduetoday/didyouknow/2015/Q4/did-you-know-center-on-religion-and-chinese-society.html|title=Did You Know: Center on Religion and Chinese Society|last=Patterson Neubert|first=Amy|date=10 December 2015|publisher=Purdue University}} The center has published research on religion in China, especially based on Yang's own theory of the so-called "religious market", with speculations were based on a report of the Pew Research Center, another publication backed by the foundation.{{cite web|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2011/12/19/global-christianity-event-transcript/|title=Event Transcript: Global Christianity|last=Stern|first=Amy|publisher=Pew Research Center|date=19 December 2011}} Some scholars of Chinese religion have criticized Yang's sociological theories about religion in China,{{cite journal|last=Liang|first=Yongjia|title=The Anthropological Study of Religion in China: Contexts, Collaborations, Debates and Trends|journal=Asia Research Institute Working Paper Series|issue=250|pages=14–15|date=2016|url=https://ari.nus.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/wps16_250.pdf}}{{cite journal|last=Goossaert|first=Vincent|title=Fenggang Yang, Religion in China. Survival & Revival under Communist Rule" (review)|url=https://assr.revues.org/24770|journal=Bulletin Bibliographique, Archives de sciences sociales des religions|pages=304|number=160|date=October–December 2012|doi=10.4000/assr.24770|doi-access=free}} although the New York Times has referred to Yang as "a pioneer in the study of the sociology of religion in China",{{cite web|url=https://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/18/q-a-yang-fenggang-on-the-oxford-consensus-and-public-trust-in-china/|title=Q. and A.: Yang Fenggang on the 'Oxford Consensus' and Public Trust in China|first=Ian|last=Johnson|date=18 October 2013}} and the Wall Street Journal has deemed him a "leading scholar on Chinese church-society relation".{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304567604576451913744126214|title=China's Banned Churches Defy Regime|first=Brian|last=Spegele|newspaper=Wall Street Journal|date=28 July 2011|via=www.wsj.com}}

Harold G. Koenig, Dale Mathews, David Larson, Jeffrey Levin, Herbert Benson and Michael McCullough are scholars to whom the foundation has provided funds to "report the positive relations" between religion and medicine.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/blindfaithunholy00sloa|title=Blind faith: the unholy alliance of religion and medicine|last=Sloan|first=Richard P.|date=2006|publisher=New York : St. Martin's Press|others=Internet Archive|pages=60–63|isbn=9780312348816}} One field in which the foundation has been particularly supportive is positive psychology, as developed by Martin Seligman, Angela Duckworth and others. Positive psychology is "the scientific study of what makes life most worth living",{{cite web |last=Peterson |first=Christopher |author-link=Christopher Peterson (psychologist) |date=16 May 2008 |title=What Is Positive Psychology, and What Is It Not? |url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-good-life/200805/what-is-positive-psychology-and-what-is-it-not |website=Psychology Today |access-date=11 July 2018}} or "the scientific study of positive human functioning and flourishing on multiple levels that include the biological, personal, relational, institutional, cultural, and global dimensions of life".{{cite journal |last1=Seligman |first1=Martin E. P. |author1-link=Martin Seligman |last2=Csikszentmihalyi |first2=Mihaly |author2-link=Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi |year=2000 |title=Positive Psychology: An Introduction |journal=American Psychologist |volume=55 |issue=1 |pages=5–14 |doi=10.1037/0003-066x.55.1.5 |pmid=11392865 |citeseerx=10.1.1.183.6660 |s2cid=14783574}}

Positive psychology is concerned with eudaimonia, "the good life", reflection about what holds the greatest value in life – the factors that contribute the most to a well-lived and fulfilling life. Positive psychology began as a new domain of psychology in 1998 when Seligman chose it as the theme for his term as president of the American Psychological Association.{{cite web |url=http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/images/TimeMagazine/Time-Happiness.pdf |title=Time Magazine's cover story in the special issue on "The Science of Happiness", 2005 |access-date=2011-02-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060711093607/http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/images/timemagazine/Time-Happiness.pdf |archive-date=2006-07-11 }}{{Cite book|title=Happier : learn the secrets to daily joy and lasting fulfillment|last=Tal.|first=Ben-Shahar|date=2007|publisher=McGraw-Hill|isbn=978-0071510967|location=New York|oclc=176182574}}

In 2019, the foundation awarded $2.6 million grant to Sarah Schnitker of Baylor University and Benjamin Houltberg of the University of Southern California to "galvanize widespread scientific development of virtue interventions for adolescents across a diversity of contexts".{{cite web|url=https://www.baylor.edu/mediacommunications/news.php?action=story&story=206202|title=Baylor University Receives $2.6 Million Grant from the John Templeton Foundation for Character Strength Interventions in Adolescents|date=23 January 2019|website=Media and Public Relations - Baylor University}}

A grant from the foundation supports a study of religion and health conducted by Tyler VanderWeele of Harvard University. VanderWeele is the John L. Loeb and Frances Lehman Loeb Professor of Epidemiology in the Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and co-director the University's Initiative on Health, Religion and Spirituality. His research has focused on the application of causal inference to epidemiology, as well as on the relationship between religion and health.

The foundation has provided grants in support of dialogue with scientists in synagogues, and a grant for advancing scientific literacy in madrasas. It has also sponsored a major, multi-year, multi-million-dollar effort to integrate science education in North American seminaries, including Mainline Protestant, Evangelical Protestant, and Catholic and Orthodox institutions.

The foundation provided funding for the book Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion, which was edited by historian of science Ronald Numbers.Numbers, Ronald L., ed. Galileo goes to jail and other myths about science and religion. No. 74. Harvard University Press, 2009, Acknowledgements.

The foundation has received both praise and criticism for its awards. The French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) has been critical of the foundation for funding "initiatives to bring science and religion closer together."{{cite web|title=La Fondation Templeton, les formes présentables du créationnisme philosophique : des initiatives "science et religions" pour dissoudre les limites entre le collectif et l'individuel, entre le public et le privé|url=http://www.cnrs.fr/cw/dossiers/dosevol/decouv/articles/chap1/lecointre5.html|author=Guillaume Lecointre|publisher=French National Center for Scientific Research}} Science journalist Chris Mooney, an atheist, received a 2010 Templeton-Cambridge Journalism Fellowship. In a 2010 article on his Discover magazine blog, Mooney wrote, "I can honestly say that I have found the lectures and presentations that we've heard here to be serious and stimulating. The same goes for the discussions that have followed them".{{cite web|last=Mooney|first=Chris|url=http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2010/06/07/science-and-religion-on-the-cam-part-i/#more-8792|title=Science and Religion on the Cam, Part I|website=Doscover|date=7 June 2010|access-date=3 March 2011|archive-date=10 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710134431/http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2010/06/07/science-and-religion-on-the-cam-part-i/#more-8792|url-status=dead}}

Some scholars have expressed concerns about the nature of the awards, research projects, and publications backed by the foundation. These concerns include questioning its integrity, cronyism, and its Templeton Freedom Awards. Journalist Sunny Bains pointed out in 2011 that Templeton Freedom Awards are administered by the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, a group that opposes taking action on climate change and defends the tobacco industry, which also gives the foundation funding.Libby A. Nelson. [https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/05/21/some-philosophy-scholars-raise-concerns-about-templeton-funding "Some philosophy scholars raise concerns about Templeton funding"]. Inside Higher ED: May 21, 2013Josh Rosenau. [http://scienceblogs.com/tfk/2011/03/05/how-bad-is-the-templeton-found/ How Bad is the Templeton Foundation?]. Science Blogs.John Horgan. [https://www.edge.org/conversation/john_horgan-the-templeton-foundation-a-skeptics-take The Templeton Foundation: A Skeptic's Take]. Edge.org.Sean Carroll. [http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2013/05/i_won_t_take_money_from_templeton_science_and_religion_can_t_be_reconciled.html The Templeton Foundation Distorts the Fundamental Nature of Reality: Why I Won't Take Money from the Templeton Foundation]. Slate.com{{Cite journal|last=Bains|first=Sunny|date=2011|title=Questioning the Integrity of the John Templeton Foundation|journal=Evolutionary Psychology|volume=9|issue=1|pages=92–115|doi=10.1177/147470491100900111|pmid=22947958|doi-access=free|pmc=10480919}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2011/apr/06/prize-mug-martin-rees-templeton|title=Martin Rees and the Templeton travesty {{!}} Jerry Coyne|last=Coyne|first=Jerry|date=2011-04-06|newspaper=the Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-04-08}}

File:Paul Davies.jpg, physicist and 1995 Templeton Prize laureate, has defended the foundation's role in the scientific community.]]

Critics have asserted that the foundation has supported Christian-oriented research in the field of the scientific study of religions.{{cite journal|last=Wiebe|first=Donald|title=Religious Biases in Funding Religious Studies Research?|url=https://digilib.phil.muni.cz/bitstream/handle/11222.digilib/125290/2_Religio_17-2009-2_6.pdf|journal=Religio: Revue Pro Religionistiku|volume=XVII|number=2|year=2009|pages=125–140|issn=1210-3640}} p. 126. Wired magazine noted in 1999 that "the scientific-review and grant-award process at the Templeton Foundation is run by Charles Harper, an Oxford-trained planetary scientist specializing in star and planet formation who has a degree in theology. Harper himself is an Evangelical Christian; the scientists who apply to the foundation for support, though, are not required to state their religious beliefs, or to have any."{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/1999/06/sir-john/|title=Sir John's Divine Gamble|magazine=Wired|first=Gary|last=Wolf|date=June 1, 1999}} In 2006, John Horgan, a 2005 Templeton-Cambridge fellow then working as a freelance science journalist, wrote in The Chronicle of Higher Education that he had enjoyed his fellowship, but felt guilty that by taking money from the foundation, he had contributed to the mingling of science with religion.{{cite web|url=http://www.johnhorgan.org/the_templeton_foundation__a_skeptic_s_take_52371.htm|title=The Templeton Foundation: A Skeptic's Take|publisher=John Horgan|date=7 April 2006|access-date=3 March 2011|archive-date=11 March 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110311223407/http://johnhorgan.org/the_templeton_foundation__a_skeptic_s_take_52371.htm|url-status=dead}} Horgan stated "misgivings about the foundation's agenda of reconciling religion and science". He said that a conference he attended favored scientists who "offered a perspective clearly skewed in favor of religion and Christianity."{{cite web|url=http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/horgan06/horgan06_index.html|title=The Templeton Foundation: A Skeptic's Take|last=Horgan|first=John|date=4 May 2006|website=Edge}} Horgan fears recipients of large grants from the foundation sometimes write what the foundation wants rather than what they believe. Richard Dawkins, in his 2006 book The God Delusion, interprets Horgan as saying that "Templeton's money corrupts science", and characterizes the prize as going "usually to a scientist who is prepared to say something nice about religion".{{cite book|last=Dawkins|first=Richard|title=The God Delusion|publisher=Black Swan|year=2006|location=UK|isbn=9780552773317|page=183}} Donald Wiebe, a scholar of religious studies at the University of Toronto, similarly criticized the foundation in a 2009 article entitled Religious Biases in Funding Religious Studies Research?. According to him, the foundation supports Christian bias in the field of religious studies, by deliberately imposing constraints to steer the results of the research.

Paul Davies, physicist and 1995 Templeton Prize laureate, gave a defense of the foundation's role in the scientific community in the Times Higher Education Supplement in March 2005.{{cite web|title=Seeking inspiration in science|url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/seeking-inspiration-in-science/194642.article|date=11 March 2005|website=Times Higher Education}} In 2010, journalist Nathan Schneider opined that "at worst, Templeton could be called heterodox and naïve".{{cite magazine|url=http://www.thenation.com/article/god-science-and-philanthropy?page=full|title=God, Science and Philanthropy|newspaper=The Nation|date=3 June 2010|last1=Schneider|first1=Nathan|access-date=3 March 2011|archive-date=11 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190211190640/http://www.thenation.com/article/god-science-and-philanthropy?page=full|url-status=dead}} In 2011, the science journal Nature took note of the ongoing controversy among scientists over working with Templeton. Jerry Coyne, University of Chicago evolutionary biologist, told Nature writer Mitchell Waldrop that the foundation's purpose is to eliminate the wall between religion and science, and to use science's prestige to validate religion. Other scientists, including Foundation grantees like University of Chicago psychologist John Cacioppo and Anthony Aguirre, a University of California—Santa Cruz astrophysicist, told Nature that they have never felt pressured by Templeton to spin their research toward religion-friendly conclusions.

A 2007 article in the Los Angeles Times described the foundation as having "drawn criticism for its early support of intelligent design".{{cite news |last1=Iritani |first1=Evelyn |title=Testing the role of trust and values in financial decisions |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-jan-21-fi-values21-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=21 January 2007}} Charles L. Harper Jr., a former senior vice president of the foundation, told BusinessWeek in 2005 that the foundation had become one of the "principal critics" of the intelligent design movement and funded projects that challenged that movement.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_48/b3961617.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051125080842/http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_48/b3961617.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 25, 2005 |title=Bloomberg Business |magazine=Businessweek.com |access-date=2015-03-08}} Harper Jr. told The New York Times the same year: "From the point of view of rigor and intellectual seriousness, the intelligent design people don't come out very well in our world of scientific review".

Some organizations funded by the foundation in the 1990s gave book-writing grants to Guillermo Gonzalez and to William Dembski, proponents of intelligent design who later joined the Discovery Institute.{{cite book |last1=Dembski |first1=William A. |title=Being as Communion: A Metaphysics of Information |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317175445 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8wYHDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT18 |language=en}} The foundation also gave money directly to the Discovery Institute which in turn passed it through to Baylor University, which used the funds to support Dembski's salary at its short-lived Michael Polanyi Center.{{cite book |last1=Forrest |first1=Barbara |last2=Gross |first2=Paul R. |title=Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195319736 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7mMSDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA306 |language=en}}{{rp|306}}{{cite news |last1=Gross |first1=Barbara |title=The Wedge at Work |url=https://ncse.com/creationism/analysis/wedge-at-work |work=NCSE |date=3 December 2008 |language=en}} The foundation funded projects by Bruce L. Gordon, associate director of the center, after the center was dissolved.{{cite news |title=Final In Series Of Science And Faith Lectures To Be Held April 22–23 |url=https://www.baylor.edu/mediacommunications/news.php?action=story&story=7161 |work=Media Communications {{!}} Baylor University |date=19 April 2004}} Some media outlets described the foundation as a supporter of intelligent design during the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District litigation in the mid-2000s, a charge which the foundation denied. The foundation "explicitly warns intelligent-design researchers not to bother submitting proposals: they will not be considered."{{cite news |last1=Goodstein |first1=Laurie |title=Intelligent Design Might Be Meeting Its Maker |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/04/weekinreview/intelligent-design-might-be-meeting-its-maker.html |work=New York Times |date=December 4, 2005 |language=en}}

In March 2009, the Discovery Institute accused the foundation of blocking its involvement in Biological Evolution: Facts and Theories, a Vatican-backed, Templeton-funded conference in Rome. On the lack of involvement of any speakers supporting intelligent design, the conference director Rev. Marc Leclerc said, "We think that it's not a scientific perspective, nor a theological or philosophical one ... This makes a dialogue difficult, maybe impossible".{{cite web|url=http://www.cleveland.com/world/index.ssf/2009/03/vaticanbacked_rome_conference.html |title=Vatican-backed Rome conference on evolution snubs intelligent-design and creationist groups |publisher=cleveland.com |date=2009-03-05 |access-date=2015-03-08}} In 2011, The Times stated that the Templeton Prize is "explicitly critical of such pseudoscientific gibberish as intelligent design"."Spirit of Inquiry: The award of a religion prize to the Astronomer Royal is apt and deserved", The Times (April 6, 2011).

A number of journalists have highlighted connections with conservative causes. A 1997 article in Slate written by David Plotz said the foundation had given a significant amount of financial support to groups, causes and individuals considered conservative, including gifts to Gertrude Himmelfarb, Milton Friedman, Walter E. Williams, Julian Lincoln Simon and Mary Lefkowitz, and called John Templeton Jr. a "sugar daddy" for such thinkers.{{cite web|last=Plotz |first=David |url=http://www.slate.com/id/1822/ |title=God's Venture Capitalist |publisher=Slate.com |date=1997-06-08 |access-date=2015-03-08}} The foundation also has a history of supporting the Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank and The Heritage Foundation conservative think-tank,{{cite news |last1=Dembicki |first1=Jeff |title=How a conservative US network undermined Indigenous energy rights in Canada |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/18/conservative-us-network-undermined-indigenous-energy-rights-in-canada |access-date=25 July 2022 |work=the Guardian |date=18 July 2022 |language=en}} as well as projects at major research centers and universities such as Hernando de Soto's Instituto Libertad Y Democracia and the X Prize Foundation, which is described as "a nonprofit organization that designs and manages public competitions intended to encourage technological development that could benefit humanity".

In a 2007 article in The Nation Barbara Ehrenreich drew attention to the foundation's former president John M. Templeton Jr. funding of the conservative group Freedom's Watch, and referred to the foundation as a "right-wing venture".{{cite journal|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/john-templetons-universe|title=John Templeton's Universe |journal=The Nation |date=2007-10-10 |access-date=2022-09-29|last1=Ehrenreich |first1=Barbara }} Pamela Thompson, former Vice President of Communications of the foundation, replied that "the Foundation is, and always has been, run in accordance with the wishes of Sir John Templeton Sr, who laid very strict criteria for its mission and approach", that it is "a non-political entity with no religious bias" and it "is totally independent of any other organisation and therefore neither endorses, nor contributes to political candidates, campaigns, or movements of any kind".{{cite web|title=The Right's Academic Universe|url=http://ehrenreich.blogs.com/barbaras_blog/2007/10/the-rights-acad.html|access-date=1 October 2015}}

Drexel University sociologist Robert Brulle listed the foundation as among the largest financial contributors to the climate change denial movement between 2003 and 2010.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/meet-the-money-behind-the-climate-denial-movement-180948204/|title=Meet the Money Behind the Climate Denial Movement|first=Colin|last=Schultz|date=December 23, 2013|magazine=Smithsonian|access-date=June 10, 2019}}

The foundation also funds an affiliated publisher, Templeton Press,{{cite web|url=http://www.templetonpress.org|title=Going beyond books to explore our place in the universe|publisher=Templeton Press}} which from 2004 to 2010 published the periodical In Character: A Journal of Everyday Virtues.{{cite web|url=http://incharacter.org|title=In Character, A Journal of Everyday Virtues by the John Templeton Foundation|publisher=Incharacter.org}} From 2000 to 2003 it published Research news & opportunities in science and theology,{{cite book |title=Research news & opportunities in science and theology. |publisher=WorldCat |language=en |date=2000|oclc=44423629 }} in which Bruce L. Gordon published a piece on the state of "design theory" in the aftermath of the Michael Polanyi Center affair.{{rp|378}}{{cite journal |last1=Gordon |first1=Bruce |title=Intelligent Design Movement Struggles with Identity Crisis |journal=Research News & Opportunities in Science and Theology |date=January 2001 |page=9 |url=https://www.asa3.org/ASA/topics/Apologetics/ResearchNews1-01Gordon.html }} Templeton Press has a partnership with the Yale University Press, producing books on character and Foundational Questions in Science.{{cite web|url=https://www.templetonpress.org/blog/yale-university-press-and-templeton-press-present-new-series-foundational-questions-science|title=Yale University Press and Templeton Press Present A New Series: Foundational Questions in Science|date=January 27, 2015}}

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