Puritans In America

At a site called "The Moderate Voice," I look in occasionally to see if they have anything pleasant to say about the ultimate moderate, Richard Nixon. Not hardly. Today Robert Stein is upset about Chuck Colson receiving a Presidential Citizens Medal from President Bush:

Just as Bush himself discovered God after half a lifetime of hell-raising, Colson in a jailhouse epiphany rehabilitated himself into Religious Right respectability after a career as Nixon’s White House counsel, the brains behind the Watergate break-in and countless other assaults on the rule of law.

"The Moderate Voice" doesn't spend immoderately on fact checkers. Colson was never charged with anything related to the Watergate break-in or coverup.

Stein also says that Colson's Christian conversion was fake. How does he know? I have a lovingly inscribed Bible, presented by the Colsons on my ordination, that says otherwise. Tens of thousands of men, women, and children have been touched and changed by Colson's Prison Fellowship.

Meanwhile Stein is a perfect example of American Puritan rectitude. Nobody can change. No forgiveness. Branded forever. Moderate, shmoderate.