Opening

I

Frederick Douglass in his famous speech "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July" stated that the existence of an institution that incarcerated and enslaved people in this country made our "politics a sham and our Christianity a lie”. Like Douglass, we believe our Christian faith asks us to always consider what is the gospel to those who have yet to be free.

II

We believe that working to abolish police and prisons is an act of faith, consistent with the life and ministry of Jesus. In short, Christ our Liberator is an abolitionist. We are pursuing a Theology of Abolition in which we embrace a calling to conspire with God to build a world that exists without prisons or policing. We believe what Harriet taught us that God desires for all of Her children to be free.

Theological Framework

Jesus on the Cross - God chooses mercy.

When Jesus was on the cross, the bible records that he was crucified alongside two people that are labeled as thieves. There is not much information given on these two thieves, but we are led to believe by the biblical account that these two men were rightly convicted of crimes they had committed. One thief mocked Jesus while the other thief asked for forgiveness. The latter thief’s petition for forgiveness was met with the assurance from Jesus that the thief would be with him this day in paradise. Jesus quickly reclaimed the man’s right to paradise. He did not require that the thief make penance. He extended mercy over punishment.

Jesus on the last day - God chooses solidarity.

The Lord we serve identifies with those who are imprisoned. It is clear from Matthew 25 that we encounter God through the stories and faces of those who reside in the most marginalized spaces of our common life. The least of these are the primary focus of God’s attention and the primary measuring stick for how we have been faithful to God’s Son. You did not care for me in prison. Jails and prisons separate and cage our neighbors. They exploit the poor and destitute who cannot afford cash bails and legal representation. Jails force us to forget the wounds that often need the most healing and encourage us to lose sight of the humanity of those on the other side. Jesus reminds us that our salvation depends on how we treat those whom our society has forgotten.

Cain and Abel-God chooses compassion.

God responds to Cain’s act of murder with mercy. God called Cain to accountability. God banished Cain and Cain was condemned to live with the shame of his violent act, but God did not cage him. God’s justice was to sentence Cain to a deep, meaningful wandering. God set Cain on a long hard road toward finding himself. Instead of retributive justice, God chose the much harder road of compassionate human rehabilitation. When Cain suggests that others who encounter him may kill him and God protects Cain’s life. The very opposite act of Cain’s action toward his brother. The end goal of God’s justice is what abolition would suggest--that there is mercy even for the murderer.

Our Context

The ongoing impact of racism and colonialism create social conditions that make people reliant on police as their source of safety, protection and prevention of harm. White supremacy causes people to feel the need for police to exist. We lean into disinvestment in the policing and carceral system as the best way to protect us. Development of prisons is as American as racism.
This is us.

Spiritual Commitments

It is time to end carceral Christianity. It is time to embrace a theology of wholeness rooted in justice. Our commitments to spiritual practices informed by the vision of abolition are these:

*We will stop teaching “‘eye-for-an-eye” punitive punishment and retributive justice.
*We will study the abolition ethic as part of spiritual practice.
*We will confess, acknowledge, and repent of our sin in sanctioning over-policing, investing in and supporting the carceral state.

Practical Commitments
*We will reclaim our sacred spaces and will not lionize or canonize police as if they are heroes, in Christian Education or in the pulpit
*We will convert prison ministries into support services focused on the holistic health and well-being of those affected by incarceration, violence, poverty, and policing.
*We will write and visit our neighbors who are jailed and join them in the fight for their release.
*We will advocate for the abolishment of the death penalty, solitary confinement, workhouses, and immigration detention centers while working with organizations that seek to defund and divest from the carceral state.

Closing

As Christians and as abolitionists, we will work to imagine, build, and manifest a world in which God’s love is realized in freedom from the tethers, terrors, and trauma of the carceral state. We will not expect justice from an unjust system. We will not structure our ministries to mirror these systems.  We choose healing instead of harm, mercy instead of malice, justice instead of judgement, and freedom instead of fear. We affirm the dignity of every human made in the image of God. Through Christ, God has made us all free.