Nielsen’s Nook

Relating to Social Justice

Introducing the Coffee Party 2010-03-31

The following is an interesting newsletter from the Progressive Center that I thought worth relaying here: They came seeking coffee and conversation. They left with sense of camaraderie and maybe a new friend or two. On Saturday, March 27th, the Central Dallas chapter of the Coffee Party came to the Progressive Center for their second meeting. As a good host, I was ...

States Rights 2010-03-23

It's interesting to me that in the relatively minute history of the United States, concern over states rights seems to be invoked at times when the Federal Government is insisting that states take care of their disenfranchised citizens.The suit argues that the legislation's mandate that individuals purchase health insurance exceeds the federal government's power to regulate interstate commerce under the ...

Liberating Black Theology, by Anthony Bradley 2010-03-10

This book looks interesting... "Liberating Black Theology" book promo from Joseph D. Martinez on ...

A Christian like Malcolm X 2010-02-13

Forsaking the status quo (aka, the old life)Malcolm had a radical conversion experience while in prison. His conversion certainly involved turning from an immoral path to a moral one; however, I would make the case that more fundamental aspect of this experience was the distillation of identity.For Malcolm being a Muslim was who he became. It was not a mere ...


The Moving Walkway of Racism - Part 1 2009-01-28

Christians believe that not all that is present and even dominant in our world and culture was created or intended by the Creator. The Bible records that God created humanity as his image to proliferate his likeness and to do so in fellowship with him. Science has underscored that the genetic variation between one race and another is the same ...

Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? 2009-01-19

Beverly Daniel Tatum engages in a conversation that myself and a good friend of mine, Russ Whitfield, have begun ourselves. Ethnically, I am Anglo-Saxon; my friend, who is bi-racial, is ethnically both Anglo-Saxon and African-American. Over the next weeks we'll be reading this book together, discussing it, and reflecting on it online here starting today, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, ...

Love Your Enemies 2009-01-09

44 ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν· ἀγαπᾶτε τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ὑμῶν καὶ προσεύχεσθε ὑπὲρ τῶν διωκόντων ὑμᾶς, 45 ὅπως γένησθε υἱοὶ τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς - Love your enemies and pray on behalf of those who persecute you, that you might be sons of your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:44-45a, author's translation)The phrase "love your enemies" is certainly ...

No Holiday Dreams for Latest Dead Children 2008-12-22

The following is an email correspondence we received from a child advocacy group (http://suncanaa.com/). It is very disturbing and I hope will cut through the platicity of the Holiday Season such that you will consider how the Incarnation of God in Christ Jesus might apply to these children today in your own community. Adoption is especially a Christian motif and ...


Barack Obama Rejects Supreme Court Decision 2008-06-25

To follow up on the post I wrote this morning on the Supreme Court decision to strike down the death penalty conviction against a father who raped his 8 year old daughter, I thought it was encouraging to see Barack Obama making public statements against the decision ...

There’s justice and then there’s this… 2008-06-25

The New York Times reported today that those convicted of raping children may no longer be executed for their crime. I am generally not very excited about the death penalty as a form of punishment; however, the reasons given in this article made my stomach turn.WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down a law that allows the ...