Tomáš Halík
Tomáš Halík (born June 1, 1947 in Prague) is a Czech public intellectual, priest and scholar.
He studied sociology and philosophy in Prague and in Bangor, UK. During Communist rule, he was banned from teaching and worked in various occupations, e.g. as a psychotherapist for drug addicts and alcoholics. He studied theology clandestinely in Prague and in 1978 he was secretly ordained as a Catholic priest. Before 1989 he was active in the so-called "underground church" and in the 1980s he was a close associate of Cardinal Tomášek.
He frequently publicly discusses ethical issues such as racism and political intolerance, as well as the process of European expansion and integration. He was one of the external advisors of former Czech president Václav Havel.