Charles Wendell "Chuck" Colson (born October 16, 1931) is a
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
leader, cultural commentator, and former
Special CounselThe White House Counsel is a staff appointee of the President of the United States.-Role:The Counsel's role is to advise the President on all legal issues concerning the President and the White House...
for
PresidentThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Richard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
from 1969 to 1973.
He was commonly named as one of the
Watergate SevenThe Watergate Seven were advisors and aides to United States President Richard M. Nixon who were indicted by a grand jury on March 1, 1974 for their role in the Watergate scandal. The grand jury also named Nixon an unindicted co-conspirator. The indictments marked the first time in U.S. history...
, and pleaded guilty to
obstruction of justiceThe crime of obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, refers to the crime of interfering with the work of police, investigators, regulatory agencies, prosecutors, or other officials...
for attempting to defame
Pentagon PapersThe Pentagon Papers, officially titled United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense, is a United States Department of Defense history of the United States' political-military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967...
defendant
Daniel EllsbergDaniel Ellsberg, PhD, is a former United States military analyst who, while employed by the RAND Corporation, precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon study of U.S. government decision-making in relation to the Vietnam War,...
. He converted to Christianity in 1973, and the following year served seven months of a one-to-three year sentence in the federal Maxwell Prison in
AlabamaAlabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
as the first member of the Nixon administration to be incarcerated for Watergate-related charges.
Colson's later life has been spent working with his
non-profit organizationNonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
devoted to prison ministry called
Prison FellowshipPrison Fellowship is a Christian prison outreach and criminal justice reform organization. Its programs reach prisoners, ex-prisoners, and families of prisoners throughout the United States and, through Prison Fellowship International , in 112 countries worldwide.- Leadership :Charles W...
. The ministry has promoted pen-pal relationships with inmates. Colson is also a public speaker and author. He is founder and chairman of the Wilberforce Forum, which is the "Christian worldview thinking, teaching, and advocacy arm of" Prison Fellowship, and includes Colson's daily radio broadcast,
BreakPointBreakPoint Commentaries is a daily radio commentary program hosted by Chuck Colson and Mark Earley which airs each weekday on more than 1,200 outlets with an estimated weekly listening audience of eight million people...
, now heard on a thousand outlets. The ministry conducts justice reform efforts through Justice Fellowship.
Colson has received 15 honorary doctorates and in 1993 was awarded the
Templeton PrizeThe Templeton Prize is an annual award presented by the Templeton Foundation. Established in 1972, it is awarded to a living person who, in the estimation of the judges, "has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical...
, the world's largest annual award (over $1 million) in the field of religion, given to a person who "has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension". He donated this prize to further the work of Prison Fellowship, as he does all his speaking fees and royalties.
Early life
During
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Colson organized fund-raising campaigns in his school for the war effort that raised enough money to buy a
JeepJeep is an automobile marque of Chrysler . The first Willys Jeeps were produced in 1941 with the first civilian models in 1945, making it the oldest off-road vehicle and sport utility vehicle brand. It inspired a number of other light utility vehicles, such as the Land Rover which is the second...
for the
armyThe United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
.
In 1948, Colson volunteered in the campaign to re-elect then-
Governor of MassachusettsThe Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the executive magistrate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The current governor is Democrat Deval Patrick.-Constitutional role:...
,
Robert BradfordRobert Fiske Bradford was an American politician who served one term as the 57th Governor of Massachusetts, from 1947 to 1949.-Biography:...
.
After attending Browne & Nichols School in
CambridgeCambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
in 1949, he earned his
B.A.A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
, with honors, from
Brown UniversityBrown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
in 1953, and his
J.D.Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
, with honors, from
George Washington UniversityThe George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
in 1959.
Colson served in the
United States Marine CorpsThe United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
from 1953 to 1955, reaching the rank of Captain. From 1955 to 1956, he was Assistant to the
Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Material)The Assistant Secretary of the Navy was a civilian office in the United States Department of the Navy, ca 1950s. The Assistant Secretary of the Navy was responsible for procurement of materials for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps.The office was held by Fred A. Bantz from...
. He then worked on the successful 1960 campaign of
Leverett SaltonstallLeverett A. Saltonstall was an American Republican politician who served as the 55th Governor of Massachusetts and as a United States Senator .-Biography:...
(US Republican Party for the
US SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
) and was his Administrative Assistant from 1956 to 1961. In 1961 Colson founded the
law firmA law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other...
of Colson & Morin, which swiftly grew to a
BostonBoston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
and
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
presence with the addition of former Securities Exchange Commission chairman Edward Gadsby and former Raytheon Company general counsel Paul Hannah. Colson and Morin shortened the name to Gadsby & Hannah in late 1967. Colson left the firm to join the
Richard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
administration in January 1969.
Colson's first marriage with Nancy Billings, in 1953, bore three children: Wendell Ball II (born 1954), Christian Billings (1956) and
Emily AnnEmily Colson is an American writer. She is the daughter of Charles Colson and Nancy Billings Colson.-Overview:She is the author of Dancing with Max: A Mother and Son Who Broke Free , a book "about living with a child with autism."...
(1958). This marriage ended in divorce in January 1964, after some years of separation. He then married Patricia Ann Hughes on April 4, 1964.
Nixon administration
In 1968, Colson served as
counselA counsel or a counselor gives advice, more particularly in legal matters.-U.K. and Ireland:The legal system in England uses the term counsel as an approximate synonym for a barrister-at-law, and may apply it to mean either a single person who pleads a cause, or collectively, the body of barristers...
to presidential candidate Nixon's Key Issues Committee.
On November 6, 1969, Colson was appointed as
Special CounselThe Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs is a unit of the White House Office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States...
to President Nixon.
Colson was responsible for inviting influential private special interest groups into the
White HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
policy-making process and winning their support on specific issues. His office served as the President's political communications liaison with organized labor, veterans, farmers, conservationists, industrial organizations, citizen groups, and almost any organized lobbying group whose objectives were compatible with the administration's. Colson's staff broadened the White House lines of communication with organized constituencies by arranging presidential meetings and sending White House news releases of interest to the groups.
In addition to his liaison and political duties, Colson's responsibilities included: performing special assignments for the president, such as drafting legal briefs on particular issues, reviewing presidential appointments, and suggesting names for White House guest lists. His work also included major
lobbyingLobbying is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in the government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by various people or groups, from private-sector individuals or corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or...
efforts on such issues as construction of an antiballistic missile system, the president's
VietnamizationVietnamization was a policy of the Richard M. Nixon administration during the Vietnam War, as a result of the Viet Cong's Tet Offensive, to "expand, equip, and train South Vietnam's forces and assign to them an ever-increasing combat role, at the same time steadily reducing the number of U.S....
program, and the administration's revenue-sharing proposal.
Colson was known as President Nixon's "hatchet man." Slate magazine writer
David PlotzDavid Plotz is an American journalist. A writer with Slate since its inception in 1996, Plotz was designated as the online magazine's editor in June 2008, succeeding Jacob Weisberg.-Early life and career:...
described Colson as "Richard Nixon's hard man, the 'evil genius' of an evil administration."
Colson has written that he was "valuable to the President ... because I was willing ... to be ruthless in getting things done". This is perhaps complimentary when read in comparison to the descriptions of Colson which pepper the work of
Rolling StoneRolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
National Affairs' Political Correspondent,
Hunter S. ThompsonHunter Stockton Thompson was an American journalist and author who wrote The Rum Diary , Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 .He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of reporting where reporters involve themselves in the action to...
during the period.
Colson authored the 1971 memo listing Nixon's major political opponents, later known as
Nixon's Enemies ListNixon’s Enemies List is the informal name of what started as a list of President of the United States Richard Nixon’s major political opponents compiled by Charles Colson, written by George T. Bell , and sent in memorandum form to John Dean on September 9, 1971...
. A quip that "Colson would walk over his own grandmother if necessary" mutated into claims in news stories that Colson had boasted that he would run over his own grandmother to re-elect Nixon. In a February 13, 1973 conversation, Colson told Nixon that he had always had “a little prejudice.” Plotz reports that Colson sought to hire
TeamstersThe International Brotherhood of Teamsters is a labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of several local and regional locals of teamsters, the union now represents a diverse membership of blue-collar and professional workers in both the public and private sectors....
thugs to beat up anti-war demonstrators. Colson also proposed firebombing the
Brookings InstitutionThe Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. One of Washington's oldest think tanks, Brookings conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, and...
and stealing politically damaging documents while firefighters put the fire out.
Colson's voice, from archives from April 1969, was heard in the 2004 movie
Going UpriverGoing Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry is a documentary film on U.S. Senator John Kerry's military service during the Vietnam War and his subsequent participation in the peace movement...
deprecating the anti-war efforts of
John KerryJohn Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
. Colson's orders were to "destroy the young
demagogueDemagogy or demagoguery is a strategy for gaining political power by appealing to the prejudices, emotions, fears, vanities and expectations of the public—typically via impassioned rhetoric and propaganda, and often using nationalist, populist or religious themes...
before he becomes another
Ralph NaderRalph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....
." In a phone conversation with Nixon on April 28, 1971, Colson said, "This fellow Kerry that they had on last week...He turns out to be really quite a phony."
Watergate and Ellsberg scandals
Colson also became involved in the
Committee to Re-elect the PresidentThe Committee for the Re-Election of the President, abbreviated CRP but often mocked by the acronym CREEP, was a fundraising organization of United States President Richard Nixon's administration...
(CRP or CREEP). At a CRP meeting on March 21, 1971, it was agreed to spend
$The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
250,000 on "intelligence gathering" on the Democratic Party. Colson and
John EhrlichmanJohn Daniel Ehrlichman was counsel and Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs under President Richard Nixon. He was a key figure in events leading to the Watergate first break-in and the ensuing Watergate scandal, for which he was convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury...
appointed
E. Howard HuntEverette Howard Hunt, Jr. was an American intelligence officer and writer. Hunt served for many years as a CIA officer. Hunt, with G...
to the
White House Special Operations Unit (the so-called "Plumbers")The White House Plumbers, sometimes simply called the Plumbers, were a covert White House Special Investigations Unit established July 24, 1971 during the presidency of Richard Nixon. Its task was to stop the leaking of classified information to the news media...
which had been organized to stop leaks in the Nixon administration. Hunt headed up the Plumbers' burglary of
Pentagon PapersThe Pentagon Papers, officially titled United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense, is a United States Department of Defense history of the United States' political-military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967...
-leaker
Daniel EllsbergDaniel Ellsberg, PhD, is a former United States military analyst who, while employed by the RAND Corporation, precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon study of U.S. government decision-making in relation to the Vietnam War,...
's psychiatrist's office in September 1971. The Pentagon Papers were military documents about the
Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
which helped increase opposition to the war. Colson hoped that revelations about Ellsberg could be used to discredit the
anti-Vietnam WarAn anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...
cause. Colson admitted to leaking information from Ellsberg's confidential FBI file to the press, but denied organizing Hunt's burglary of Ellsberg's office. He expressed regret for attempting to cover up this incident in his 2005 book,
The Good Life.
On March 10, 1973, Colson resigned from the White House to return to the private practice of law, as Senior Partner at the law firm of Colson and Shapiro, Washington, D.C.
On March 1, 1974, Colson was indicted for conspiring to cover up the Watergate burglary.
As Colson was facing arrest, his close friend, Raytheon Company chairman of the board Thomas L. Phillips, gave Colson a copy of
Mere ChristianityMere Christianity is a theological book by C. S. Lewis, adapted from a series of BBC radio talks made between 1941 and 1944, while Lewis was at Oxford during World War II...
by
C. S. LewisClive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
, which, after reading it, led Colson to become an evangelical Christian. Colson then joined a prayer group led by
Douglas CoeDouglas Evans Coe is associate director of the Christian organization the Fellowship . He has also been referred to as the "stealth Billy Graham." In 2005, Coe was named one of the 25 most influential Evangelicals in the United States by Time magazine...
, and including Democrat Senator
Harold HughesHarold Everett Hughes was the 36th Governor of Iowa from 1963 until 1969; he had been a Republican earlier in his life. He also served as a Democratic United States Senator from 1969 until 1975.-Background:...
, Republican congressman
Al QuieAlbert Harold Quie is an American politician who served as the 35th Governor of Minnesota from January 4, 1979, to January 3, 1983.-State and national government service:...
and Democrat congressman
Graham B. Purcell, Jr.Graham Boynton Purcell, Jr. was a United States Representative from Texas.Born in Archer City, Texas, Purcell attended the public schools and received his Bachelor of Science from The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas in 1946, and his LL.B...
. When news of the conversion emerged much later, several U.S. newspapers, as well as
NewsweekNewsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
,
The Village VoiceThe Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
, and
TimeTime is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, ridiculed the conversion, claiming that it was a ploy to reduce his sentence. In his 1975 memoir
Born Again. Colson noted that a few writers published sympathetic stories, as in the case of a widely reprinted UPI article, "From Watergate to Inner Peace."
After taking the
Fifth AmendmentThe Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, protects against abuse of government authority in a legal procedure. Its guarantees stem from English common law which traces back to the Magna Carta in 1215...
on the advice of his lawyers during early testimony, Colson found himself torn between his desire to be truthful and his desire to avoid conviction on charges of which he believed himself innocent. Following prayer and consultation with his fellowship group, Colson approached his lawyers and suggested a plea of guilty to a different criminal charge of which he did consider himself culpable.
After days of negotiation with Jaworski and Gesell, Colson pleaded guilty to
obstruction of justiceThe crime of obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, refers to the crime of interfering with the work of police, investigators, regulatory agencies, prosecutors, or other officials...
on the basis of having attempted to defame Ellsberg's character in the build-up to the trial in order to influence the jury against him. Journalist
Carl RowanCarl Thomas Rowan , was an American government official, journalist and author. Rowan was a nationally-syndicated op-ed columnist for the Washington Post and the Chicago Sun-Times. He was one of the most prominent black journalists of the 20th century.-Background:Carl Rowan was born in...
commented in a June 10 column that the guilty plea came "at a time when the judge was making noises about dismissing the charges against him" and speculated that Colson was preparing to reveal highly damaging information against Nixon, an expectation shared by columnist Clark Mollenhoff; Mollenhoff even went so far as to suggest that for Colson
not to become a "devastating witness" would cast doubt on the sincerity of his conversion. On June 21, 1974, Colson was given a one- to three-year sentence and fined $5,000. He was subsequently
disbarredDisbarment is the removal of a lawyer from a bar association or the practice of law, thus revoking his or her law license or admission to practice law...
in the District of Columbia, with the expectation of his also being prohibited from using his licenses from Virginia and Massachusetts.
Colson served seven months in Maxwell Correctional Facility in
AlabamaAlabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, — with brief stints at a facility on the Fort Holabird grounds when needed as a trial witness — entering prison on July 9, 1974 and being released early, on January 31, 1975, by the sentencing judge because of family problems. At the time that Gesell ordered his release, Colson was one of the last of the Watergate defendants still in jail, only Gordon Liddy was still incarcerated;
Egil KroghEgil “Bud” Krogh, Jr. is an American lawyer who became famous as an official of the Richard Nixon administration, and who was imprisoned for his part in the Watergate scandal.-Education:...
had served his sentence and been released before Colson entered jail, while
John DeanJohn Wesley Dean III is an American lawyer who served as White House Counsel to United States President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973. In this position, he became deeply involved in events leading up to the Watergate burglaries and the subsequent Watergate scandal cover-up...
, Jeb Magruder, and Herb Kalmbach had been released earlier in January 1975 by
Judge John SiricaJohn Joseph Sirica was the Chief Judge for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, where he became famous for his role in the Watergate scandal...
. (Although Gesell declined to name the "family problems" prompting the release, Colson wrote in his 1976 memoir that his son Chris, angry over his father's imprisonment and looking to replace his broken car, had bought $150 worth of marijuana in hopes of selling it at a profit, and had been arrested in
South CarolinaSouth Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, where he was in college. The state later dropped the charges.)
During his time in prison, Colson had become increasingly aware of what he saw as injustices done to prisoners and shortcomings in their rehabilitation; he also had the opportunity, during a three-day furlough to attend his father's funeral, to pore over his father's papers and discover the two shared an interest in prison reform. He became increasingly convinced that he was being called by God to develop a ministry to prisoners with an emphasis in promoting changes in the justice system.
Career after prison
After his release from prison, Colson founded
Prison FellowshipPrison Fellowship is a Christian prison outreach and criminal justice reform organization. Its programs reach prisoners, ex-prisoners, and families of prisoners throughout the United States and, through Prison Fellowship International , in 112 countries worldwide.- Leadership :Charles W...
. Colson has worked to promote prisoner rehabilitation and reform of the prison system in the United States. He disdains what he calls the "lock 'em and leave 'em" warehousing approach to criminal justice. He led the effort that released Elizabeth Morgan from prison. He has helped to create
faith-basedThe term faith-based is a neologism , mostly current in US English, to describe any organization or government idea or plan based on religious beliefs, specifically Christian beliefs....
prisons whose populations come from inmates who choose to participate in them. All of Colson's book royalties are donated to Prison Fellowship.
Colson's religious conversion and prison term were the subject of a 1975 personal memoir,
Born Again, which was made into
a 1978 dramatic filmBorn Again was a 1978 film depicting the involvement of Charles W. Colson in the Watergate scandal, his subsequent conversion to Christianity, and his prison term stemming from Watergate...
starring
Dean JonesDean Carroll Jones is an American actor. Jones is best known for his light-hearted leading roles in several Walt Disney movies between 1965 and 1977, most notably The Love Bug.-Early years:...
, as Colson,
Anne FrancisAnne Lloyd Francis was an American actress, best known for her role in the science fiction film classic Forbidden Planet , and as the female private detective in the television series Honey West . She won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Emmy award for her role in Honey West...
, as his wife, Patty, and
Harold HughesHarold Everett Hughes was the 36th Governor of Iowa from 1963 until 1969; he had been a Republican earlier in his life. He also served as a Democratic United States Senator from 1969 until 1975.-Background:...
as himself.
Colson also maintains a variety of media channels which discuss contemporary issues from an
evangelicalEvangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
worldview. Colson's views are typically consistent with a politically conservative interpretation of evangelical Christianity. In his Christianity Today columns, for example, Colson has opposed
same-sex marriageSame-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
, argued that
DarwinismDarwinism is a set of movements and concepts related to ideas of transmutation of species or of evolution, including some ideas with no connection to the work of Charles Darwin....
is used to attack Christianity, and claimed that the
EnronEnron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. Before its bankruptcy on December 2, 2001, Enron employed approximately 22,000 staff and was one of the world's leading electricity, natural gas, communications, and pulp and paper companies, with...
accounting scandals were a consequence of secularism. He has also argued against Darwinism and in favor of
intelligent designIntelligent design is the proposition that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." It is a form of creationism and a contemporary adaptation of the traditional teleological argument for...
, saying Darwinism helped cause forced sterilizations by
eugenicistsEugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
.
Colson has been an outspoken critic of
postmodernismPostmodernism is a philosophical movement evolved in reaction to modernism, the tendency in contemporary culture to accept only objective truth and to be inherently suspicious towards a global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. Postmodernist thought is an intentional departure from the...
, believing that, as a cultural worldview, it is incompatible with the Christian tradition. He has debated prominent post-evangelicals, such as
Brian McLarenBrian D. McLaren is a prominent, controversial evangelical pastor. He was recognized as one of Time magazine's "25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America" in 2005, and is the founding pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church in Spencerville, Maryland.-Biography:Born in 1956, Brian McLaren...
, on the best response for the evangelical church in dealing with the postmodern cultural shift. Colson has, however, come alongside the controversial "creation care" movement when endorsing Christian-environmentalist author Nancy Sleeth's
Go Green, $ave Green: a simple guide to saving time, money, and God's green earth.
Colson is a member of the Family (also known as the Fellowship), described by prominent evangelical Christians as one of the most politically well-connected fundamentalist organizations in the US.
In the early 1980s, Colson was invited to New York by David Frost's variety program on NBC for an open debate with
Madalyn Murray O'HairMadalyn Murray O'Hair was an American atheist activist and founder of the organization American Atheists and its president from 1963 to 1986. One of her sons, Jon Garth Murray, was the president of the organization from 1986 to 1995, while she remained de facto president during these nine years....
, the famous
atheistAtheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
who, in 1963, brought the court case (
Murray v. CurlettAbington Township School District v. Schempp , 374 U.S. 203 , was a United States Supreme Court case argued on February 27–28, 1963 and decided on June 17, 1963...
) that eliminated official public school prayers. More recently, Colson has been a proponent of the Bible Literacy Project's curriculum
The Bible and Its InfluenceThe Bible and Its Influence is a textbook first published in 2005 to facilitate teaching about the Bible in American public high schools. Its publishers, the Bible Literacy Project, say the textbook allows schools to study the Bible academically while fully respecting the Establishment Clause of...
for public high school literature courses.
From 1982 to 1995, Colson received Honorary doctorates from various colleges and universities.
In 1990, the
Salvation ArmyThe Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
recognized Colson with its highest civic award, the Others Award. Previous recipients of the award include
Barbara BushBarbara Pierce Bush is the wife of the 41st President of the United States George H. W. Bush, and served as First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993. She is the mother of the 43rd President George W. Bush and of the 43rd Governor of Florida Jeb Bush...
,
Paul HarveyPaul Harvey Aurandt , better known as Paul Harvey, was an American radio broadcaster for the ABC Radio Networks. He broadcast News and Comment on weekday mornings and mid-days, and at noon on Saturdays, as well as his famous The Rest of the Story segments. His listening audience was estimated, at...
, US Senator
Bob DoleRobert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...
and the
Meadows FoundationThe Meadows Foundation of Somerset County, New Jersey is a nonprofit corporation founded in 1978. It oversaw the restoration of seven historic houses in Somerset. The homes are on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places.-Houses:* Van Liew-Suydam...
.
On April 4, 1991, Colson was invited to deliver a speech as part of the Distinguished Lecturer series at
Harvard Business SchoolHarvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...
. The speech was titled "The Problem of Ethics," where he argued that a society without a foundation of moral absolutes cannot long survive.
In 1993, Colson was awarded the
Templeton Prize for Progress in ReligionThe Templeton Prize is an annual award presented by the Templeton Foundation. Established in 1972, it is awarded to a living person who, in the estimation of the judges, "has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical...
, the world's largest cash gift (over $1 million), which is given each year to the one person in the world who has done the most to advance the cause of religion. He donated this prize, as he does all speaking fees and royalties, to further the work of
Prison FellowshipPrison Fellowship is a Christian prison outreach and criminal justice reform organization. Its programs reach prisoners, ex-prisoners, and families of prisoners throughout the United States and, through Prison Fellowship International , in 112 countries worldwide.- Leadership :Charles W...
.
In 1994, Colson was famously quoted in contemporary Christian music artist
Steven Curtis ChapmanSteven Curtis Chapman is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, actor, author, and social activist.After starting his career in the late 1980s as a singer/songwriter of contemporary Christian music, Chapman has since been recognized as one of the most prolific singers in the genre,...
's song "
Heaven in the Real WorldHeaven In The Real World is the sixth studio album from Christian singer Steven Curtis Chapman released on July 12, 1994 by Sparrow Records....
" as saying:
- "Where is the hope? I meet millions of people who feel demoralized by the decay around us. The hope that each of us has is not in who governs us, or what laws we pass, or what great things we do as a nation. Our hope is in the power of God working through the hearts of people. And that's where our hope is in this country. And that's where our hope is in life."
The 1995 book,
Evangelicals and Catholics TogetherEvangelicals and Catholics Together is a 1994 ecumenical document signed by leading Evangelical and Roman Catholic scholars in the United States. The co-signers of the document were Charles Colson and Richard John Neuhaus, representing each side of the discussions...
: Toward a Common Mission (ISBN 0-8499-3860-0), which Colson and prominent Roman Catholic
Richard John NeuhausRichard John Neuhaus was a prominent Christian cleric and writer. Born in Canada, Neuhaus moved to the United States where he became a naturalized United States citizen...
edited, sparked some controversy amongst evangelicals. The same year, actor
Kevin DunnKevin Dunn is an American actor who has appeared in supporting roles in a number of films since the 1980s. His roles include Colonel Hicks in the 1998 version of Godzilla, Sam Witwicky's father in Transformers, and Oscar Galvin, the primary antagonist in the 2010 action thriller...
portrayed Colson in the movie
NixonNixon is a 1995 American biographical film directed by Oliver Stone for Cinergi Pictures that tells the story of the political and personal life of former US President Richard Nixon, played by Anthony Hopkins....
.
In 1999, Colson co-authored "How Now Shall We Live?" with
Nancy PearceyNancy Randolph Pearcey is an American evangelical author on the Christian worldview.-Career:Pearcey was the Francis A. Schaeffer Scholar for several years at the World Journalism Institute. In September 2007, Pearcey was named Scholar for Worldview Studies at the Center for University Studies at...
and published by
Tyndale HouseTyndale House is a publisher founded in 1962 by Kenneth N. Taylor, in order to publish his paraphrase of the Epistles, which he had composed while commuting to work at Moody Press in Chicago. The book appeared under the title Living Letters, and received a television endorsement from Billy Graham...
. The book was winner of the 2000
Gold Medallion Book AwardThe Christian Book Award is an annual award given by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association to honor Christian content in several categories, including Bibles, Fiction, Children, Inspiration, Bible Reference, and Non-Fiction. Winners are announced each year at the industry's Executive...
.
In 2000, Florida Governor
Jeb BushJohn Ellis "Jeb" Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd Governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is a prominent member of the Bush family: the second son of former President George H. W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush; the younger brother of former President George W...
reinstated the rights taken away by Colson's felony conviction, including the right to vote.
On February 9, 2001, the
Council for Christian Colleges and UniversitiesThe Council for Christian Colleges and Universities is an organization designed to help primarily Protestant and evangelical Christian institutions of higher education cooperate and communicate with one another...
(CCCU) presented Colson with the Mark O. Hatfield Leadership Award at the Forum on Christian Higher Education in
Orlando, FloridaOrlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
. The award is presented to individuals who have demonstrated uncommon leadership that reflects the values of Christian higher education. The award was established in 1997 in honor of US Senator
Mark HatfieldMark Odom Hatfield was an American politician and educator from the state of Oregon. A Republican, he served for 30 years as a United States Senator from Oregon, and also as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee...
, a long-time supporter of the Council.
On October 3, 2002, Colson was one of the co-signers of the
Land letterThe Land letter was a letter sent to U.S. President George W. Bush by five evangelical Christian leaders on October 3, 2002, outlining their support for a just war pre-emptive invasion of Iraq...
sent to President
BushGeorge Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
. The letter was written by Richard D. Land, president of the
Ethics and Religious Liberty CommissionThe Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission is the public policy agency of the Southern Baptist Convention. It is headed by Richard Land and is headquartered in Nashville, TN with an office in Washington, DC.The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission...
of the
Southern Baptist ConventionThe Southern Baptist Convention is a United States-based Christian denomination. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination and the largest Protestant body in the United States, with over 16 million members...
. It was co-signed by four prominent American evangelical Christian leaders with Colson among them. The letter outlined their theological support for a
just warJust war theory is a doctrine of military ethics of Roman philosophical and Catholic origin, studied by moral theologians, ethicists and international policy makers, which holds that a conflict ought to meet philosophical, religious or political criteria.-Origins:The concept of justification for...
pre-emptive
invasion of IraqThe 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
.
On June 18, 2003, Colson was invited by
PresidentThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
George W. BushGeorge Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
to the
White HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
to present results of a scientific study on the
faith-basedThe term faith-based is a neologism , mostly current in US English, to describe any organization or government idea or plan based on religious beliefs, specifically Christian beliefs....
initiative, InnerChange, at the
Carol Vance UnitCarol S. Vance Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison located in unincorporated central Fort Bend County, Texas. The unit, located in flatlands, is along U.S. Highway 90A, east of central Richmond. The facility is in proximity to Sugar Land, and it is about southwest of Downtown...
(originally named the Jester II Unit) prison facility of the
Texas Department of Criminal JusticeThe Texas Department of Criminal Justice is a department of the government of the state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails and private correctional facilities, funding and certain...
in
Fort Bend County, TexasFort Bend County is a county located along the Gulf Coast region in the U.S. state of Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. In 2000 its population was 354,452, while the 2010 U.S...
. Colson led a small group that includes Dr. Byron Johnson of the
University of PennsylvaniaThe University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, who was the principal researcher of the InnerChange study, a few staff members of
Prison FellowshipPrison Fellowship is a Christian prison outreach and criminal justice reform organization. Its programs reach prisoners, ex-prisoners, and families of prisoners throughout the United States and, through Prison Fellowship International , in 112 countries worldwide.- Leadership :Charles W...
and three InnerChange graduates to the meeting. In the presentation, Dr. Johnson explained that 171 participants in the InnerChange program were compared to a matched group of 1,754 inmates from the prison's general population. The study found that only 8 percent of InnerChange graduates, as opposed to 20.3 percent of inmates in the matched comparison group, became offenders again in a two-year period. In other words, the recidivism rate was cut by almost two-thirds for those who complete the faith-based program. Those who are dismissed for disciplinary reasons or who drop out voluntarily, or those who are paroled before completion, have a comparable rate of rearrest and incarceration.
On June 1, 2005, Colson appeared in the national news commenting on the revelation that
W. Mark FeltWilliam Mark Felt, Sr. was an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation , who retired in 1973 as the Bureau's Associate Director...
was
Deep ThroatDeep Throat is the pseudonym given to the secret informant who provided information to Bob Woodward of The Washington Post in 1972 about the involvement of United States President Richard Nixon's administration in what came to be known as the Watergate scandal...
. Colson expressed disapproval in Felt's role in the Watergate scandal, first in the context of Felt being an FBI employee who should have known better than to disclose the results of a government investigation to the press (violating a fundamental tenet of FBI culture), and second in the context of the trust placed in him (which demanded a more active response, such as a face-to-face confrontation with the FBI director or Nixon or, had that failed, public resignation). His criticism of Felt provoked a harsh response from former
Washington Post executive editor Benjamin Bradlee, one of only three individuals to know who Deep Throat was prior to the public disclosure, who said he was "baffled" that Colson and Liddy were "lecturing the world about public morality" considering their role in the Watergate scandal. Bradlee stated that "as far as I'm concerned they have no standing in the morality debate."
Colson also supported the passage of
Proposition 8Proposition 8 was a ballot proposition and constitutional amendment passed in the November 2008 state elections...
. He signed his name to a full-page ad in the December 5, 2008
New York Times that objected to violence and intimidation against religious institutions and believers in the wake of the passage of Proposition 8. The ad stated that "violence and intimidation are always wrong, whether the victims are believers, gay people, or anyone else." A dozen other religious and human rights activists from several different faiths also signed the ad, noting that they "differ on important moral and legal questions," including Proposition 8.
In 2008, Colson was presented with the
Presidential Citizens MedalThe Presidential Citizens Medal is the second highest civilian award in the United States, second only to the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It is awarded by the President of the United States, and may be given posthumously....
by President
George W. BushGeorge Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
.
In November 2009, Colson signed an ecumenical statement known as the
Manhattan DeclarationThe Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience is a manifesto issued by Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Christian leaders to affirm support of "the sanctity of life, traditional marriage, and religious liberty". It was drafted on October 20, 2009 and released November 20, 2009,...
calling on evangelicals, Catholics and Orthodox not to comply with rules and laws permitting abortion, same-sex marriage and other matters that go against their religious consciences.
Books
(This is not a complete list. Colson has a long list of publications and collaborations. He has also written forewords for several other books.)
| Year |
Title |
Publisher |
ISBN |
| 1976 |
Born Again |
Chosen Books |
ISBN 978-0-8007-9459-0 |
| 1979 |
Life Sentence |
Chosen Books |
ISBN 0-8007-8668-8 |
| 1983 |
Loving God |
HarperPaperbacks |
ISBN 0-310-47030-7 |
| 1987 |
Kingdoms in Conflict Kingdoms in Conflict: An Insider's Challenging View of Politics, Power and the Pulpit is a work of Christian literature by former US President Richard Nixon's chief counsel, Charles Colson, published in 1987 in the United States by Zondervan and in 1988 in the United Kingdom by Hodder &...
(with Ellen Santilli Vaughn) |
William Morrow & Co |
ISBN 0-688-07349-2 |
| 1989 |
Against the Night: Living in the New Dark Ages
(with Ellen Santilli Vaughn) |
Servant Publications |
ISBN 0-89283-309-2 |
| 1991 |
Why America Doesn't Work
(with Jack EckerdJack Eckerd , was an American businessman who was a major innovator in drugstore retailing, and a public servant, politician and philanthropist.-Biography:...
) |
Word Publishing |
ISBN 0-8499-0873-6 |
| 1993 |
The Body: Being Light in Darkness
(with Ellen Santilli Vaughn) |
Word Books |
ISBN 0-85009-603-0 |
| 1993 |
A Dance with Deception: Revealing the truth behind the headlines |
Word Publishing |
ISBN 0-8499-1057-9 |
| 1995 |
Evangelicals and Catholics Together: Toward a Common Mission
(co-edited with Richard John NeuhausRichard John Neuhaus was a prominent Christian cleric and writer. Born in Canada, Neuhaus moved to the United States where he became a naturalized United States citizen...
) |
Thomas Nelson |
ISBN 0-8499-3860-0 |
| 1996 |
Being The Body
(with Ellen Santilli Vaughn) |
Thomas Nelson |
ISBN 0-8499-1752-2 |
| 1998 |
Burden of Truth: Defending the Truth in an Age of Unbelief |
Tyndale House Tyndale House is a publisher founded in 1962 by Kenneth N. Taylor, in order to publish his paraphrase of the Epistles, which he had composed while commuting to work at Moody Press in Chicago. The book appeared under the title Living Letters, and received a television endorsement from Billy Graham...
|
ISBN 0-8423-3475-0 |
| 1999 |
How Now Shall We Live
(with Nancy Pearcey and Harold Fickett) |
Tyndale House |
ISBN 0-8423-1808-9 |
| 2001 |
Justice That Restores |
Tyndale House |
ISBN 0-8423-5245-7 |
| 2004 |
The Design Revolution: Answering the Toughest Questions
About Intelligent Design (with William A. Dembski) |
Inter Varsity Press |
ISBN 0-8308-2375-1 |
| 2005 |
The Good Life
(with Harold Fickett) |
Tyndale House |
ISBN 0-8423-7749-2 |
| 2008 |
The Faith
(with Harold Fickett) |
Zondervan |
ISBN 0-310-27603-9 |
| 2011 |
The Sky Is Not Falling: Living Fearlessly in These Turbulent Times |
Worthy Publishing |
ISBN 978-1936034-543 |
(Some of these ISBNs are for recent editions of the older books.)
External links
- BreakPoint Commentary
- Columns in Christianity Today
Christianity Today is an Evangelical Christian periodical based in Carol Stream, Illinois. It is the flagship publication of its parent company Christianity Today International, claiming circulation figures of 140,000 and readership of 290,000...
- Columns in The Christian Post
The Christian Post is a pan-denominational, Evangelical Christian newspaper based in Washington, D.C..Launched initially as an online publication, the newspaper was founded in 2000 to deliver news, information, and commentaries relevant to Christians across denominational lines and to bring greater...
- Colson Center for Christian Worldview
- Chuck Colson's biography at Prison Fellowship Ministries
- Watergate Key Players by the Washington Post
- Nixon aides say Felt is no hero MSNBC June 1, 2005.
- Born Again by Al Hartley
- Short News,com (Source for Citizens Medal Presentation)