Charles Colson

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Charles Wendall "Chuck" Colson founded Prison Fellowship Ministries in 1976, "an outreach to convicts, victims of crime, and justice officers. Colson is the author of several books, including How Now Shall We Live? and a daily radio feature, BreakPoint, which airs on 1,000 radio networks. In 1993 Colson won the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion." [1].


"Known within the Nixon administration as the 'evil genius,' special counsel Charles W. Colson served seven months in prison in 1974 after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice in the Watergate-related Daniel Ellsberg case. Colson's more notorious ideas, according to some reports, included spreading false information about Ellsberg and firebombing the Brookings Institution. He was also indicted for his role in the Watergate cover-up.

"Colson became a born-again Christian and in 1976 founded the Prison Fellowship Ministries. The volunteer-based organization is designed to bring Bible study and a Christian message to prison inmates and their families. Justice Fellowship, a subsidiary of the group, was founded in 1983 to develop Bible-based criminal justice and prison reform. In 1993, Colson won the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, worth more than $1 million, for his work with the ministry. In addition, Colson, now 65, hosts a daily Christian radio news show. He lives in McLean, Va., and Naples, Fla."

Source: "Watergate25: Key Players," Washington Post, 1997. [2]


Colson's Ghostwriter

"In a recent column published by Christianity Today Chuck Colson, the Watergate-operator-turned-Christian-reformer, went after people caught lying. Predictably, Colson reprimanded Joseph Ellis, who has now become the poster child of deceit. But Colson also expressed disgust with Stephen Ambrose, whom he lumped in with the liars. Ambrose, Colson observed, 'plagiarized portions of other historians' works and -- notwithstanding his public apology -- seemed hardly disturbed by the resulting controversy.' Why, Colson wondered, is there such an epidemic of deceit?
"Perhaps he should interview himself. According to the Los Angeles Times Colson did not write the column, though it carried his byline and photo. His assistant, Anne Morse, wrote it.
"The article remains posted on Christianity Today's website. At the bottom of the article there's a section listing related links. The very first one? We swear we are not making this up: 'Ghostwriting: A Borderline Deceit?'. This editorial, first published in 1982 and then republished just this month, concludes: 'It is time for readers to be freed from the borderline deceit (and conceit) involved in ghost- and ghostly writing. The reader has the right to know that if an author's name is given, it is the true author's true name.'"
  • On March 25, 2002, the garret* ("church leaders archives") posted in "Under Fire" that
"Charles Colson has come under fire for a recent column in the magazine Christianity Today. Colson wrote about what he calls the 'Post-Truth Society'. The former figure in the Watergate scandal decries rampant lying in our society. Historian Stephen Ambrose is described as 'dealing in deceit' because he took credit for the work of other historians. Both current and former employees say the problem is that Colson did not write the column. The actual author, they say, was Anne Morse, a full-time writer Colson employs." [3]

Contact details

BreakPoint
44180 Riverside Parkway
Lansdowne, VA 20176
Telephone: 877-322-5527
E-mail: info@breakpoint.org

SourceWatch Resources

Contact Details

BreakPoint website: http://www.pfm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=BreakPoint1

External links

Biographical notes

Publications

  • Charles "Chuck" Colson and Anne Morse, "Burden of Truth: Defending the Truth in an Age of Unbelief" ISBN 0842301909, Tyndale Publishing House, 1998.

Colson on the just war doctrine, preemptive war, and the war in Iraq

By Colson (and with Anne Morse)

Articles & Commentary