Charles Colson: Still Repeating A Lie He Knows Is A Lie

Charles Colson remains one of the most cynically dishonest creatures in American politics.

Evangelical Christians love the guy for his prison-conversion story, but he is not an honest man and should not be trusted.

Charles Colson says things that aren’t true. On purpose. With intent to deceive.

This is a matter of public record.

Colson says things that he knows are not true. Colson says things that he knows are not true in order to mislead others into supporting his partisan political agenda.

So, yes, Charles Colson is a liar.

Last week Charles Colson appeared on James Dobson’s radio show and warmed up with a lie about President Obama that seems to be one of Colson’s favorites, despite being easily disproved. Colson said:

Obama is trying to replace the freedom of religion with the more narrow “freedom of worship,” telling Dobson, “I have not seen ‘freedom of religion’ mentioned by an official in the Obama administration.” Colson also claimed that President Obama “used ‘freedom of religion’ only once, and that was when he was talking about the mosque in Ground Zero.”

This is a lie. Charles Colson knows this is a lie.

But despite knowing it is a lie, Colson repeated it yet again because Charles Colson is a liar.

Here’s the thing about lying about what the president has and has not said: The president is a public figure. Stuff he says gets recorded, filmed and broadcast. There’s a record.

And we can check the record. Obama and many of his officials have spoken of “freedom of religion” hundreds of times. Just as many previous presidents have also spoken of “freedom of worship” without drawing any criticism from Charles Colson for using the phrase.

What Colson claims is not true. This has been pointed out to him, repeatedly and publicly. He knows this is not true.

But showing Charles Colson the correct, truthful and accurate information will not keep him from repeating incorrect, untruthful and inaccurate accusations because he was not misinformed.

He was lying. On purpose.

That’s what he does.

In the interview with Dobson, Colson went on to pretend that a nationwide mandate for contraception coverage in health insurance was something new and menacing

“This is the most important issue — I really think the most important I’ve faced in my ministry,” Colson said, “and the greatest threat to America, the greatest threat to us as Christians.”

Colson’s ministry is based in Virginia. Once Obama’s nationwide mandate goes into effect, religious employers in Virginia will for the first time have a conscience clause allowing them to opt out of directly providing this coverage. They have to offer this coverage now — with no conscience clause exempting religious employers.

Chuck Colson, an employer in the state of Virginia, has been operating under this mandate since 1996, when Republican Gov. George Allen signed the state’s mandate into law.

So here’s a timeline:

1996

Context: Republican governor signs into law a mandate requiring employers to offer contraceptive coverage, with no exemptions recognizing the “religious liberty” of religious employers such as Charles Colson.

Colson: No complaints.

1997