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Wednesday, June 09, 2004

Chuck Colson: The Question of Good and Evil

Chuck Colson is one of the great thinkers of the Christian church. His thoughts on Ronald Reagan are no less insightful. Here's an excerpt:

But when Reagan was elected, all of that changed. He started talking about the "Evil Empire." At one time I thought he was being overly simplistic and said so in Christianity Today. But he was right; I was wrong.

Reagan dared to challenge the Soviets on the basis of morality - good versus evil. Freedom and democracy were good, tyranny and communism evil. And so at the Berlin Wall, Reagan challenged Soviet tyranny with the unforgettable words, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" And it came down, and the Iron Curtain came down along with it.

How often do you see someone write, "he was right; I was wrong" ? It takes a solid man to do that.

Colson here makes a point similar to Richard Perle's below. Perle said Reagan chose to "engage the Soviet Union on the battlefield of ideas," Colson, "on the basis of morality." But Perle fleshes out the same point as Colson. The Soviet system was brutal, illegitimate, and tyrannical. In other words, evil. A moral judgement was made. There was no relativity. No "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter." Reagan had a moral compass and used it. The same is true of Bush. And both are vilified for it.

posted by Gary at 12:30 | [Permalink] (0) comments

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