Why Should UUs and UCM Care About the Prison Abolition Movement?

• Early Universalism was so named because its adherents believed in universal salvation. Quoting from the UU Church of the Larger Fellowship: “Universalism teaches us that our worthiness is not defined by our sins (or lack thereof). If we truly believe this, we are charged to develop better ways to treat people who do harm (or who are unjustly accused of doing harm). We believe that our faith calls us to imagine a future in which none of our siblings are shackled and caged.” [From the CLF proposal for the UUA to adopt a Congregational Study/Action Issue on Abolition, Transformation, and Faith Formation, written in December 2024.]

 

• Unitarians and Universalists have often been at the forefront of anti-slavery campaigns in this country. Imprisonment is a historical extension of slavery. The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolished enslavement “except as a punishment for crime.”

 

• Our UU Values include Justice, Equity, and Transformation. By learning about the often violent and discriminatory structures built into the prison-industrial system, and about alternatives to mass incarceration, we can open our minds and hearts to practices of restorative justice, non-violence and non-discrimination.

 

Click Here to read all about the 2025 Congregational Study/Action Issue (CSAI): Abolition, Transformation, and Faith Formation.