Ring of Tolerance

Initiated by the British publisher and diplomat Lord George Weidenfeld †, who was honoured for his merits of building bridges between cultures and states, the Academy has been awarding the Rings of Tolerance to one representative of the three Abrahamic religions Christianity, Judaism and Islam, who actively engage for justice, humanity and tolerance between cultures. The idea of three identical rings can be traced back to the Ring Parable from Lessing's Nathan the Wise. The story is about a father who traditionally bequeaths a special ring to his most beloved son and determines that this ring should always be passed on to the favourite son. The tradition ends when a father loves his three sons alike and replicates two identical rings. Regarding the interpretation of the Parable, the three rings represent the three monotheistic religions Christianity, Judaism and Islam, the three sons stand for the respective religious communities, and the father represents a loving God, who does not prefer any religion. Thus, God (father) loves all humans alike, no matter which religious community they belong to. The Rings were lately awarded to Katajun Amirpur (Islamic scholar, University of Cologne), Doris Leuthard (Swiss Federal Councilor), and Esther Bejarano (Holocaust survivor).

Zeitraum der Vergabe: since 2012