Public correction of Chuck Colson’s mistake

Posted by Ir (Helen) on: 10.31.2007 /

In a previous post I mentioned how Benjamin Ady wrote to Chuck Colson’s ministry to point out Chuck’s error regarding Richard Dawkins.

A ministry representative said that they would correct the error in Chuck’s upcoming book. Benjamin replied that he thought they should also correct the error publically. Yesterday he received this from them:

We received your most recent email regarding the misquoting of the Dawkins statement. We agree that it should be corrected publicly and we’d like to thank you for bringing this to our attention.

Our BreakPoint staff members have discussed this and as a result, we will post a correction on the script on the commentary website, and in our daily email tomorrow, we will acknowledge and correct the mistake.

You can see the correction on this page of their site (an asterisk from the relevant part of the commentary links to the correction at the bottom of the page). Today’s Breakpoint e-mail included the following:

Correction: Chuck Colson’s BreakPoint script from October 11, ” A Rational Belief,” contained an inaccuracy. Colson stated that ” Even atheist Richard Dawkins admits that there is a one-in-seven chance that God might exist.” Instead, according to a New York Times Book Review article dated October 22, 2006, “On a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 is certitude that God exists and 7 is certitude that God does not exist, Dawkins rates himself a 6: ‘I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, [Dawkins said] and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there.’ “

6 Responses to "Public correction of Chuck Colson’s mistake"

  • Comment by: Siamang

    1 11/1/07 10:39 AM | Comment Link |

    Fantastic!

  • Comment by: Richard Wade

    2 11/4/07 8:57 PM | Comment Link |

    Why is this milktoast correction in the third person instead of Colson himself saying, “I made a mistake, blah blah blah.” All his “apology-ist” does is to state the guy’s dumb misinterpretation and then to quote the misread quotation. The actual intended idea is not clearly contrasted to Colson’s screw-up so it is not abundantly clear how way, way off he was.

  • Comment by: Eliza

    3 11/5/07 8:19 AM | Comment Link |

    Richard,
    Congrats on becoming a co-blogger with Hemant on his site!

  • Comment by: Richard Wade

    4 11/9/07 1:35 AM | Comment Link |

    Thanks, Eliza. My first post got a pretty good response. Now I have to come up with another. I’m traveling right now, bringing science to all the good little boys and girls of the world. Maybe something interesting will happen.

  • Comment by: benjamin ady

    5 11/9/07 3:05 AM | Comment Link |

    Why is this milktoast correction in the third person instead of Colson himself saying, “I made a mistake”

    Let’s face it. Chuck Colson is no Jim Henderson. That doesn’t mean we can’t give him a little credit. it’s all about context. positive reinforcement is the key to life, methinks. Every little step in the right direction is about a million times better than further steps in the wrong directions.

  • Comment by: Richard Wade

    6 11/9/07 10:20 AM | Comment Link |

    I can see your point, benjamin, but the correction isn’t really a step at all, because no one will pay any attention to it. Colson has started a lie, like an urban myth that will persist about Dawkins and his one-in-seven chances for God’s existence. Bookmark the BreakPoint “correction” because we’ll be referring Dawkins detractors to it for years to come.