Colson's Triumph

THE OBJECT OF HIS FAITH USED TO BE RICHARD NIXon. But prison, where he was sent for his role in the Watergate scandal, triggered a religious conversion in former White House aide Charles Colson. "Born again," Colson transformed his zeal for Republican politics (he once said he would walk over his own grandmother for Nixon) into a devotion to Jesus. He founded the Prison Fellowship, an organization designed to change the lives of convicts through a combination of practical assistance and relentless evangelism. Colson's two decades of commitment have worn down most of the skeptics who questioned the sincerity of his conversion, and last week he was awarded the most lucrative religious prize on the face of the earth: the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, which carries a $1 million-plus award, previously granted to Mother Teresa and Billy Graham. "Twenty years later," says Colson, "I see how God has used my life. Sometimes the greatest adversities turn out to be the greatest blessings."