the time for demagogues" such as the current Czech President Miloš Zeman and Donald Trump. He also did not believe he had high chances of succeeding in the 2018 race, as he would have only won "the voices of the sane and educated", believing that he would need to go against his moral compass and campaign on a populist and controversial platform. Controversial views Halík holds some controversial, even dissident views, that are at odds with the official stances of the Catholic Church. He supports women's ordination, claiming that the fact that Jesus didn't call them to be His Apostles doesn't disallows that possibility. He has criticized the Church's stance on homosexuality, stating that people with same-sex attraction shouldn't have to be feel compelled necessarily to live in chastity. He also has criticized anti-abortion legislation, specially in Eastern Europe, claiming that the near-total ban on abortion in Poland would "encourage ‘abortion tourism’ of Polish women to the Czech Republic and Slovakia, contributing very little to the protection of the unborn and failing to actually stop the evil of abortion." Honors, awards and prizes Tomáš Halík has received many distinguished awards for his merits in inter-religious dialogue, his scholarly and pedagogical activity, his promotion of spiritual freedom and human rights, and for literature, including: 1997: The prize of the Masaryk Academy of Arts for creative activity (Prague) 2002: The Andrew Elias Human Tolerance Award for outstanding services in disseminating the values of tolerance and spiritual and intellectual freedom (USA) 2003: The Cardinal König Merit Award for defence of human rights and spiritual freedom, Austria (Laudator: Václav Havel, President of the Czech Republic) 2006: The Literary Award of the Czech Literary Fund for the book Night of the Confessor 2007: The Fenix Prize of Polish Booksellers for the best book by a foreign author, for the Both Called and Not Called book (Poland) 2007: The Prize of the Czech Society for Science and Art for his literary, scholarly and pedagogical activity 2010: The Romano Guardini Prize for outstanding merits in interpreting contemporary society, Germany (Laudator: Karel Schwarzenberg, Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic) 2010: The Golden St. Adalbert medal for extraordinarily efficient explanation of religion to fellow citizens, Prague (Laudator: Cardinal Dominik Duka, archbishop of Prague) 2010: Medal for outstanding services to inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue (Islamic society Mosaika-Platform, Prague) 2011: Honorary title "Man of Reconciliation 2010" for outstanding services to dialogue