On Earth as It is in Heaven: Abolition as a Spiritual Homecoming

Black feminist carceral abolitionists such as Mariame Kaba and Andrea Ritchie have demonstrated that moral transformation is at the core of abolitionist movements – shifting ethical reflexes away from disposability toward radical love. In stark contrast to the exclusionary ethics of colonial Christianity that make sacred belonging the property of whiteness, maleness and heterosexuality and facilitate white supremacist heteropatriarchal violence, I contemplate how abolitionist ethics are deeply spiritual ethics that enable sacred belonging for those most marginalized as well as the making of a new world. As a Black woman of Christian faith, Black feminist abolition movements have provided a spiritual homecoming for me.