Unitarian jihad

Unitarian Jihad is a nascent satirical religious/humanist movement which intentionally juxtaposes the Unitarian Universalist principles of a creedless faith and rational discussion with the Islamic concept of Jihad, specifically the use of that word in connection with "holy war".

Unitarian Jihad originated in a column by writer Jon Carroll which was published in the April 8, 2005 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle. In the article, Carroll used the conceit of having received an anonymous communique from the group.

Excerpt:

The following is the first communique from a group calling itself Unitarian Jihad. It was sent to me at The Chronicle via an anonymous spam remailer. I have no idea whether other news organizations have received this communique, and, if so, why they have not chosen to print it. Perhaps they fear starting a panic. I feel strongly that the truth, no matter how alarming, trivial or disgusting, must always be told. I am pleased to report that the words below are at least not disgusting:

Greetings to the Imprisoned Citizens of the United States. We are Unitarian Jihad. There is only God, unless there is more than one God. The vote of our God subcommittee is 10-8 in favor of one God, with two abstentions. Brother Flaming Sword of Moderation noted the possibility of there being no God at all, and his objection was noted with love by the secretary.

Both links to Carroll's column, and the text of the column, were distributed on the Internet. Some people who read this proclaimed themselves to be members of the Unitarian Jihad. Whether Carroll condones or endorses the movement inspired by his article is not clear at the present time. It is also unclear whether any of the self-proclaimed members of the Unitarian Jihad intend to take action other than communicating with each other online.

Following Jon Carroll's satirical lead, the people who have declared themselves members of the Unitarian Jihad talk about committees, a model common in Unitarian Universalist congregations. They also follow Carroll's lead in using names like "Brother Flaming Sword of Moderation" in order to parody both the language used by Islamic militant groups and the principles of Unitarian Universalism.

External links

• Original article by Jon Carroll
• LiveJournal community for Unitarian Jihad (known as the International Unofficial Unitarian Jihad)
• LiveJournal community for the UK cell of the IUUJ
• LiveJournal commmunity for the San Francisco/Bay Area cell of the IUUJ
• Unitarian Jihad Name Generator
• First Reformed Unitarian Name Generator
• A Unitarian Jihad Cafe Press store
• Unitarian Jihad at UUWiki
• Unitarian Jihad at Yahoo Groups
• Unitarian Jihad at Everything2
• About Unitarian Universalism from the Unitarian Universalist Association (USA)
• Who We Are from the Canadian Unitarian Council (Canada)
• About the GA from the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches (UK)
• What is ICUU? from the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists