FROM OUR MINISTER
“Abolition. No Exceptions”
Dear Beloveds,
The 13th Amendment to the US constitution abolished enslavement “except as a punishment for crime.” Through our 2025-26 Study Action Issue, the Unitarian Universalist Association calls for that exception clause to be removed. Enslavement is not a moral option for punishment of any crime.
When we hear the word “abolition” many of us immediately think of the movement to abolish slavery in the United States in the 19th century. Unitarians and Universalists were well represented in this movement. Well known Unitarians and Universalists who worked for the abolition of slavery include John Quincy Adams, Theodore Parker, Adin Ballou, Louisa May Alcott, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Elhanan Winchester, Lydia Maria Child, William Lloyd Garrison, and Lucy Stone.
The 2025-2026 Unitarian Universalist Study Action Issue (See this link for detailed information: https://www.uua.org/action/process/2025-csai-abolition) calls for our abolition work to continue until there are no exceptions, until all types of slavery and bondage are eliminated. All congregations are asked to study the issue and take action.
The new abolitionist movement centers on the Prison Industrial Complex and eliminating enslavement from legal as well as moral options for criminal punishment. The Study Action Issue says, “we need to restructure our society in ways that eliminate violence, discrimination, and the causes of these… and connect our theology of abolition with issues such as the genocide in Gaza, ICE detention, discriminatory housing, food deserts, climate justice, and other social justice issues.”
This month I will speak about abolition twice on Sundays and for the remainder of the program year we will offer discussions and book groups, and work to connect more of our members and friends to ministry and service related to abolition including our work with Greater Danbury Unites for Immigrants, the efforts of our Palestine Solidarity Committee, our connection to Dorothy Day Hospitality House, and the CT UU Social Justice Ministry.
I hope you will join me in continuing the work of Unitarian Universalism in the fight for abolition.
In Solidarity,
Rev. Tony