The Two Faces of Charles "Chuck" Colson
Shame on Scotland Scotland freed the terminally ill Lockerbie bomber last week so he could die at home in Libya. "Our beliefs dictate that justice be served, but mercy be shown," a Scottish official said. Did Scotland do the right thing? Should we have any mercy for mass murderers who are terminally ill? Scotland has made a mockery of justice. Ask the families of the 270 people al-Megrahi murdered. By any measure, serving only eight years in prison for blowing up an airplane full of people is nothing short of scandalous. . . .
In his essay, "The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment," Christian writer C. S. Lewis argued that we ought to punish people for no other purpose than just deserts, and in so doing, we recognize that humans are free moral agents, responsible for our actions. That's why Lewis wrote, "To be punished, however severely, because we have deserved it, because we 'ought to have known better,' is to be treated as a human person made in God's image." In my view, to usher al-Megrahi out of the country and into the arms of cheering crowds in Libya defies the notion of just deserts and unbalances the scales of justice -- scales that even his lifelong confinement could barely balance.
_______________________________________________________ Ah yes, well mercy is a Christian thing and you don't want to go wasting it on Muslims--at least according to Chuck. No matter that he swindled and wheedled his way out of Watergate prosecution by bending the tolerance of swindling and wheedling on his own behalf.
Prison Fellowship (founded by Colson and according to Wikepedia) is the largest prison outreach and criminal justice reform organization in the world. Its programs reach prisoners, ex-prisoners, and families of prisoners in all 50 states and, through Prison Fellowship International, in 112 countries worldwide. Based on the premise that at the heart of every criminal act is a destructive decision, Prison Fellowship volunteers and staff equip churches and communities to help prisoners, ex-prisoners, and youth at risk reject crime and become contributing members of their families and communities. To that end, Prison Fellowship's mission is to seek the transformation of prisoners and their reconciliation to God, family, and community through the power and truth of Jesus Christ, and the transformation of believers as they apply biblical thinking to all of life, enabling them to transform their communities through the grace and truth of Jesus Christ.
Ah there we are, back to Jesus. Colson draws the line at non-believers (as in whatever the hell this unsavory man believes). Good old God-fearing and Christian artful-dodger Chuck, was Richard Nixon's axe man, author of the famous 'enemies list' and force behind the Watergate break-in, for which (in his manipulative fashion) he got himself a 1-3 year maximum sentence to the slammer.
(Slate Magazine) Colson proposed firebombing the Brookings Institution and stealing politically damaging documents while firefighters put the fire out.
What a sweetheart. It has been widely reported that, as Colson was facing arrest, his close friend, Tom Phillips, gave Colson a copy of Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis, which, after reading it, led Colson to become an evangelical Christian. Never too late to attain the benefits of forgiveness, as long as you don't forward them to someone not on your team. Al-Megrahi is definitely not Chuckie's cup of tea and it's hard to tell by the rant, whether Colson is more angered by al Megrahi's cancer keeping him from additional years in prison, or the cheering crowds that welcomed a terminally ill Muslim.
(Wikipedia again) Colson has received 15 honorary doctorates and in 1993 was awarded the Templeton Prize, the world's largest annual financial prize given for merit (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.
No one cheered when Chuck Colson slinked out of prison.