What’s Happening at the Colson Center—and Why It Matters to Abuse Survivors

Charles Colson, Divorce, and the Organization That Uses His Name

I was brought up in a wonderful Evangelical Christian home, and I’m an avid book reader.  Chuck Colson’s book, Born Again, was one of my favorites.

From Born Again to Prison Ministry: Why This History Matters

It was the story of President Richard Nixon’s “hatchet man” who ended up in federal prison in the aftermath of Watergate. But God humbled him and made him a better man. He developed an organization called Prison Fellowship, a group I’ve supported. His book inspired me to do jail ministry myself, and for years I preached the Gospel to hundreds of women inmates at the largest women’s jail in the United States.

Charles Colson passed away in 2012. He had divorced and had remarried. Three years later, The Colson Center For Christian Worldview was formed in Colorado. It bears his name, but he didn’t found it.

Charles Colson on Divorce: What He Wrote—and What He Didn’t Study

In 2009, Charles Colson authored a negative article about divorce, which he based on a New York Times article about a large study, the HRS, which collects data from Americans aged 50 and older. It mentioned an article about the negative health effects of divorce. That article, “Marital Biography and Health at Mid-Life,” by Mary Elizabeth Hughes and Linda Waite, did not look at whether a marriage was happy or full of conflict when studying people’s health. 

Although the authors acknowledged in their introduction that marital quality—such as strain or support—could affect health, they did not measure it. As a result, the study could not distinguish between the health effects of divorce itself and the health effects of remaining in a chronically unhappy or harmful marriage.

However, a study by Daniel N. Hawkins and Alan Booth had compared low- and high-quality marriages (in a different data set) and found that a divorce to escape a toxic situation was the beneficial for wellbeing: these people did see their health improve on average. 

The Colson Center After Colson: A Different Message

Now let’s discuss the Colson Center* that was founded 3 years after Charles Colson’s death. 

Why No-Fault Divorce Laws Matter for Christian Abuse Victims

Recently Colson Center’s president, John Stonestreet, has added his voice to attack no-fault divorce laws and to mock those who take advantage of these laws to get free, suggesting that the only people who benefit are adulterers, and completely ignoring Christian domestic violence victims (1-in-4 Christian marriages were found to be abusive, according to a study by the pro-marriage, pro-family Institute for Family Research). Stonestreet doesn’t really understand the importance of these laws to protect abuse victims. 

UPDATED: These same blind spots show up in the Colson Center’s public advocacy. In the 2026 #GreaterThan campaign video, John Stonestreet speaks about children, family structure, and moral decline—yet abuse, coercive control, and dangerous marriages are never named. That omission matters. Decades of research show that abuse, not divorce, is a primary driver of harm to children. I documented exactly who speaks in the video and what is said—and not said—here: #GreaterThan Campaign Video: Full Transcript with Speakers Identified

At the time I wrote this, Colson Center was promoting a poorly researched article by Amy J. Desai that contained 12 half-truths about divorce and kids. That article mentioned many top researchers of the past 30 years, but misrepresented their views. (See my claim-by-claim analysis of it here:  12 Half-Truths in “How Could Divorce Affect My Kids?” from Focus on the Family by Amy Desai, J.D.). The article is so twisted and manipulative that only three websites on the internet cited that article at the time: Focus on the Family and Colson Center are two of the three, the third is classified as a “hate group.” 

When Family-Structure Rhetoric Erases Abuse

A divorced Christian domestic violence victim in my online Life-Saving Divorce group reached out to me in a panic. She is a Colson Center fan. She was horribly shocked by John Stonestreet’s Feburary 2022 broadcast.  I checked it out myself. He was using the information from the misleading Focus on the Family article. Two times I emailed him accurate research information, but he did not respond or retract anything. He doesn’t seem to care very much about domestic violence victims…or about truth, for that matter.

Bad Research, Real Harm

How Divorce Misinformation Keeps Victims Trapped

One mother in my Life-Saving Divorce Private group believed that article and stayed with her violent husband even though she wanted to divorce. He strangled her, beat her, discarded her lifeless body into a gully, and left her for dead — a year after she tucked that article in her Bible.  Here’s is my video interview with her.  (LINK.)

How the Colson Center Promoted Divorce Misinformation

Now in 2025, John Stonestreet and Shane Morris of the Colson Center have posted yet another article suggesting that divorcing before the child is age 5 destroys children, but obviously they didn’t read the very study they mention.  They completely misinterpreted the figures. Less than 1 in 100 children of divorce were incarcerated; less than 2 in 100 had a teen birth or died young. Here’s what the study found: New Study Shows Kids of Divorce Rarely Face Teen Pregnancy, Jail, or Early Death

No wonder men with abusive attitudes and women who judge other women for leaving adulterers, abusers, and addicts seem to feel comfortable posting on the Colson Center’s Facebook page. 

Judith Wallerstein Was Not Anti-Divorce—Here’s What She Found

The Colson Center distorts the conclusions of a famous researcher, Dr. Judith Wallerstein, in their articles/broadcasts that suggest that divorce is universally destructive to children. (See what Dr. Wallerstein said about divorce and children here: 10 Quotes on Kids and Divorce From Dr. Judith Wallerstein).  She found that 7 in 10 kids of divorce turned out fine.  Wallerstein’s words:

“I am not against divorce. How could I be? I’ve seen more examples of wretched, demeaning, and abusive marriage than most of my colleagues. I’m keenly aware of the suffering… I’m also aware that for many parents the decision to divorce is the most difficult decision in their lives; they cry many a night before taking such a drastic step. -Judith S. Wallerstein, The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce (New York: Hyperion, 2000), p. xxxix

“Children raised in extremely unhappy or violent intact homes face misery in childhood and tragic challenges in adulthood.” -Judith S. Wallerstein, The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce (New York: Hyperion, 2000), p. 300.

“And I am, of course, aware of the many voices on the radio, on television, and in certain… religious circles that say divorce is sinful… But I don’t know of any research, mine included, that says divorce is universally detrimental to children.” -Judith S. Wallerstein, The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce (New York: Hyperion, 2000), p. xxxix

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Who Leads the Colson Center—and Why the Scrubbing Matters

Power, Transparency, and Accountability at the Colson Center

The Colson Center For Christian Worldview Board of Directors in 2022 listed on their public website.  Now the names of the board members have been scrubbed and are not listed on their IRS 990 forms. 

(1) JOHN STONESTREET, PRESIDENT

(2) JOSEPH BACKHOLM, DIRECTOR – EMBASSY PROJECT

(3) STEPHEN MICHAEL CRAVEN, DIRECTOR – COLSON FELLOWS PROG

(4) WILLIAM BROWN, SENIOR FELLOW/COLSON FELLOWS

(5) DAVID CARLSON, SENIOR EDITOR

(6) STEPHEN VERLEYE, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

(7) DOUGLAS NAPIER, BOARD CHAIR

(8) PETER MAHON, SECRETARY

(9) ERIC PILLMORE, TREASURER

(10) SHANNON CAGNINA, DIRECTOR

(11) DAVID DOCKERY, DIRECTOR

(12) JENNIFER MARSHALL, DIRECTOR

( 13) EMILY COLSON, DIRECTOR

(14) EDWIN SIMCOX, DIRECTOR

STEVE VERLEYE, COO

BRIAN BROWN, VICE PRESIDENT

LYNN DAMEWOOD, CPA

TIMOTHY PADGETT, THEOLOGIAN

If you live in Colorado Springs, please share your story with these people.

Colson Center Officers listed in their public IRS 990 forms for 2023

1 John Stonestreet, PRESIDENT
2 Stephen Craven, VP, Equip &Mobilization
3 Peter Marra, Chief Strategy Officer

For domestic violence victims and serial adultery/addiction victims,

The Colson Center for Christian Worldview is UNSAFE.

When an organization’s theology traps people in bondage to an abuser, cheater, or swindler something is wrong with their worldview.

Note: Colson Center was Registered in Colorado in 2015, and was granted their nonprofit tax-exempt status with the IRS in 2016, three years after the death of its namesake.