The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 27

resource revIew
garner support from northern white churches. All these efforts
led to key legislative and social changes.
Later, the emphasis shifted to efforts to prevent nuclear war,
as well as specific and timely other projects. FOR challenged
nuclearism as a crucial issue. dekar writes:
As Dr. [Martin Luther] King once observed, the essential choice
for humankind in the nuclear age is no longer between violence
and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence.
One of the specific and timely projects of the FOR was
an effort to get Americans to sponsor young Bosnian refugees
to attend college in the uS. dekar credits douglas hostetter
as noting that this campaign was successful because it was
simple, it had a personal face, it encouraged anyone, anywhere
to participate, it offered a statement of interfaith cooperation
and it made it clear that a cooperative effort was necessary.
Most recently, FOR's efforts have been focused on the
unfinished work of racial reconciliation, especially noting that
true reconciliation requires consideration of reparations to
address the harm that has been done.
dekar's list of dangerous people associated with for
includes familiar names such as norman Thomas, A. J. Muste,
Bayard rustin, Al hassler, Martin luther king, Jr., and many
more. In 1966, as Al Hassler became more aware of the linkages between militarism, racism and ecological devastation,
he suggested that it is "not enough to apply the tactics of
nonviolence to individual circumstances in isolated places,"

but what's needed is a "nonviolently organized total world
community in which the well being of all is the responsibility
of all."
To that end, for has continued to work toward nonviolent solutions to varied and nefarious world problems while
keeping its eye on the prize of the Beloved Community.
Dangerous People is a badly needed reminder of what can be
accomplished by a few dedicated individuals linked together
in the common cause of building a better world for us all.
-Steve Jacobsen is a former Business Manager and board member of
BPFnA. he is currently a member of the national Council of FOR.
note: Paul Dekar is a longtime member and former national Council chair
for the Fellowship of Reconciliation. he is also a longtime member and
former board member for BPFnA ~ Bautistas por la Paz. In addition
to dangerous people and creating the Beloved community, he
has written books about two FOR members: Thomas Merton and Martin
Luther King, Jr. he also wrote Building a culture of peace: Baptist
peace fellowship of north America-The first Seventy years.
having lived in Memphis, Tn, where he taught at the Memphis Theological Seminary for many years, Paul now lives in his native Ontario,
where he writes and continues to work for justice. n

Baptist Peacemaker

JAN-MAR 2018

http://www.ShineCurriculum.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018