Minns 2024 Series
April 18, 21 & 25
May 9

Abolition Theologies: Praying for Liberation

Rev. Jason Lydon

With both violent theological underpinnings and inherent racism upholding the prison system, Rev. Lydon will show that prison abolitionism is a theological imperative for Unitarian Universalists.

Rev. Jason Lydon is minister of Second Unitarian Church of Chicago. He previously served as director of Black and Pink, a nationally networked grassroots organization working to abolish the prison industrial complex while meeting the immediate needs of LGBT/HIV+ prisoners.

  • Lecture: Thursday, April 18, 2024
    "The Prisoners' Friend: Universalism and Punishment"
    Respondent: Daniel McKanan, Ralph Waldo Emerson Unitarian Universalist Senior Lecturer at Harvard Divinity School
    7:00 pm EDT
    Attend online or in person
    First Church Boston, 66 Marlborough St., Boston, MA
  • Panel conversation: Sunday, April 21, 2024
    Panelists: Ashley Diamond, activist; Jennifer Love Williams, activist; Rev. Karen Mooney
    7:00 pm EDT
    Attend online or in person
    First Church Boston, 66 Marlborough St., Boston, MA
  • Lecture: Thursday, April 25, 2024
    "The UUSC National Moratorium on Prison Construction: A Stepping Stone Toward Abolition"
    7:00 pm EDT
    Respondent: Nicole Pressley, Field & Programs Director, Unitarian Universalist Association
    Attend online or in person
    King's Chapel Parish House, 64 Beacon St., Boston, MA
  • Lecture: Thursday, May 9, 2024
    "Praying for Abolition"
    Respondent: Prof. Vincent Lloyd, Director of Africana Studies at Villanova University
    7:00 pm CDT
    Attend online or in person
    Second Unitarian Church, 656 W. Barry Ave. Chicago, IL

There is no charge to attend.