He didn’t do any more CREEPing as far as I know. I suppose he did continue to advocate antigay bigotry, so there’s that.
A long time ago I read his biographical account Born Again. I don’t remember much about it, but I think he did admit to guilt (moral as well as legal) and wrongdoing.
I don’t really doubt that his acceptance of Christianity (of a conservative/evangelical flavor) was genuine, and at the time I’m not sure he had much to gain by publically doing so.
Check out the article that Thudlow linked above.
OK, so there’s also that. I’m still wondering why Qin Shi Huangdi expects us to be sad.
Raps on Qin’s door, “You home?”
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Matthew 5:11-12
John 15:18-25
What made Colson great was that he could have fought the charges against him and gotten off with a lesser punishment. He chose to go to jail, rather than be dishonest.
After he got out of jail, he had many rich and powerful friends who could have given him lucrative employment but he chose instead to open a prison ministry to give hope to some of the lowest members of our society. This despite the fact that Nixon was elected as a law and order president and the mainstream view of prisoners was that they were scum who were ruining our country and that prisons were too easy and sentences were too short. Most of the prisoners he helped were felons who had their voting rights stripped and could not be of any service to a political party. Prisoners who go participate in Prison Fellowship ministries are much less likely than average to reoffend and hurt other people. Through self sacrificial service to the lowly he made our society a better place. Truly a great man, one of the giants of our age.
He did get off with a lesser punishment. This is not accurate with regard to Colson and it’s not an accurate description of what happens when you “fight the charges.” When you plead not guilty, you may get no prison time at all if you’re acquitted on all charges, but you may be convicted on a bunch of charges and get more jail time. It’s a bigger risk. When you plead guilty like Colson did, you get a lighter sentence than you might’ve received if you were convicted after pleading not guilty. It’s dealmaking. Wikipedia says that 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.” So he plead guilty to stuff he thought he did but wouldn’t own up to other things, which seems to have been the pattern he followed later in life.
As part of his plea, he was not charged with anything related to the actual Watergate burglary, only the Ellsberg job. He was sentenced to one to three years in prison and was released after seven months. I am not sure how much jail time he was facing if he’d been convicted of everything, but I am sure it was much more. In any case all of that hardly makes a person great.
I have no problem with charity that’s prompted by self-interest, but call it what it is: he started caring about prisoners after he became one. That being said, yes, prisoners have rights too.
Colson, of course, eventually got his voting rights back because of his connections to powerful Republicans.
Too bad he only started doing that after trying so hard to make it worse.
Saying that he tried to do right after doing wrong is one thing; saying it makes him “great” and “one of the giants of our age” is just nauseating. Most of us are able to do right without doing the kinds of things he did and then being “awakended” to the truth about scummy behavior.
That’s it. I’m moving out of Lilliput.
Bullshit, he made a plea bargain and got off with less prison time than any of the others. In fact he plead the 5th while facing while facing a conspiracy charge, and only testified after getting the charge reduced to obstruction.
There are many many thousands of teachers, ministers, health volunteers, etc. who decline a more lucrative career because they want to contribute to society. Are they all “great people, among the giants of our age”?
No. Colson was a despicable felon who may have risen from his stench to achieve almost-normal morality. The adjective “great” has no meaning here except in a context like “greatly reformed.” The people calling him “great” now are the same people who called his 1970’s critics “hateful.”
BTW, is this why a recent President is considered so “great”, indeed voted as “the greatest living American”? He rose from being a drunken fratboy buffoon to being a sober buffoon, and achieved the distinction of “undoubtedly the worst President ever.” Great?
As I said earlier, desperation is the word that comes to mind about this idea that Colson was “great.”
If you read further in the Wikipedia article it says the guilty plea came “at a time when the judge was making noises about dismissing the charges against him”. Furthermore he was offered a deal to plead guilty to a misdemeanor, which would have allowed him to practice law, in exchange for the prosecution recommending no jail time.
It was not just that he awakended that what he was doing was wrong and stopped doing wrong things, it was he passed up a life of wealth and prestige to spend his time with the poor and the downtrodden trying to help those who society hates.
Yes, I did see that. He still denied responsibility for anything to do with Watergate, made no amends with Ellsberg, and avoided the risk of more serious jail time by taking a plea.
And didn’t take it because…?
He did not become rich as perhaps he could have, but he did alright for himself and experienced plenty of prestige as a big name in the Christian conservative movement. I’m not seeing “he could have been punished less severely for his crimes” and “he could have made more money” as the makings of a great man and one of the giants of our age. If a former Nixon criminal is a giant of our age because of that - some apparently commendable work with prisoners and a loud contribution to the evangelical Christian movement - I’d say we’re all completely screwed.
Well, one thing he gained was people making threads calling him a “great man.” That’s an incentive for some people.
Well, he had some prestige – people are calling him a “great man.” I’m helping the downtrodden and I don’t make much money, but nobody calls me a “great man.”
We do think of you as a terrific schooner, tho.