As for Colson, you said, “Colson has argued that church-state separation will aid the efforts of terrorists and allow radical Islam to grow unchecked.”

This is not really accurate. It would be better stated that Colson argues that the application of the separation of church and state used in his particular case in Iowa regarding prison ministries could result in terrorist organizations taking a further foothold in our prisons.

In fact, the very article you cited notes,

To be fair to Colson, a report titled “Out of the Shadows: Getting Ahead of prisoner Radicalization” indicates that there is a possible risk from radical Islamists who learn their extremism in prisons.

And both of you ignore the 2005 case against Kevin Lamar James and others who hatched a plot to bomb L.A. while in prison. Here is a short synopsis of a film made by PBC entitled, “Homegrown: Islam in Prison”:

The film traces the men charged with this 2005 plot in Los Angeles, a group calling itself Jam’iyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheech, which translates to Assembly of Authentic Islam, shortened to JIS by law enforcement. The group plotted to strike U.S. military facilities, Israeli national interests and synagogues in the Los Angeles area around the Jewish high holidays. The leader of the group was Kevin Lamar James, imprisoned for robbery. One of the group’s pivotal adherents, Levar Haney Washington, swore an oath of allegiance to James and JIS just prior to his release on parole from Folsom State Prison outside Sacramento, California in November 2004. Allegedly, Washington recruited two others to his cause once he was released.

So, I don’t think Colson is as radical as you make him out to be based on his comments regarding terrorism and the separation of church and state.

And again, I am glad to see the BGCT nominate a candidate that appeals to people across the Baptist theolgoical spectrum.