The Invisible Pink Unicorn is the goddess of a parody religion used to
satirize theistic beliefs, taking the form of a unicorn that is paradoxically
both invisible and pink. She is a rhetorical illustration used by atheists
and other religious skeptics as a contemporary version of Russell's
teapot, sometimes mentioned in conjunction with the Flying Spaghetti
Monster. The IPU is used to argue that
supernatural beliefs are arbitrary by, for example, replacing the word God in
any theistic statement with Invisible Pink Unicorn. The mutually exclusive
attributes of pinkness and invisibility, coupled with the inability to disprove
the IPU's existence, satirize properties that some theists attribute to a
theistic deity. History
The IPU seems to have become notable primarily through online culture: in
addition to alt.atheism, where IPU still frequently comes up in discussions,
there are now a number of web sites dedicated to her. The earliest
documented reference to the IPU was on July 7, 1990, on the Usenet discussion
group alt.atheism. Other sources concerning IPU state that she was
"revealed to us" on alt.atheism. The concept was further developed by a
group of college students from 1994 to 1995 on the ISCA Telnet-based BBS. The
students created a manifesto that detailed a nonsensical religion based on
a multitude of invisible pink unicorns. It is from this document that the most
famous quotation concerning IPUs originated:
Invisible Pink Unicorns are beings of great spiritual power. We know this
because they are capable of being invisible and pink at the same time.
Like all religions, the Faith of the Invisible Pink Unicorns is based upon
both logic and faith. We have faith that they are pink; we logically know that
they are invisible because we can't see them. — Steve Eley
Concepts It is common when discussing the
Invisible Pink Unicorn to point out that because she is invisible, no one can
prove that she does not exist. This is a parody of similar theistic claims about
God—that God, as creator of the universe, is not subject to its laws and
thus not physically detecting him tells us nothing about his existence or lack
thereof. The Invisible Pink Unicorn is an illustration which attempts to
demonstrate the absurdity of citing attributes and a lack of evidence as
proof of a deity's existence. Her two defining attributes, invisibility and
color, are inconsistent and contradictory; this is part of the
satire. The paradox of something being invisible yet having visible
characteristics is reflected in some East Asian cultures, wherein an
"invisible red string" is said to connect people who have a shared or
linked destiny. There are humorous mock debates amongst
her "followers" concerning her other attributes, such as whether she is
completely invisible, or invisible to most, but visible to those who have
faith in her. Some arguments are quite elaborate and tortuous, satirizing the
disputatiousness and intricacy of the theological debates that occur in many
religions. The Invisible Pink Unicorn is also used
to de-deify religious texts. The goal is to have the reader experience the text
without heavily loaded concepts that many readers will associate with
omnipotence, or will read with an unquestioned faith. It is argued that
when someone re-reads the same text with all direct references to God replaced
with the Invisible Pink Unicorn, the reader may see the text in a new and
more critical way: In the beginning the Invisible Pink
Unicorn created the heavens and the earth...and the Spirit of the Invisible
Pink Unicorn was hovering over the waters. And the Invisible Pink Unicorn
said, "Let there be light," and there was light. The Invisible Pink Unicorn
saw that the light was good, and she separated the light from the darkness.
Similar concepts In 1996, a unicorn that no one can see
was adapted as a teaching device at Camp Quest, the first free-thought summer
camp for children established in the United States, by Dr. L. Wilson. As
reported years later in the July 21, 2006 Cincinnati Enquirer, "Campers must
try to prove that imaginary unicorns—as a metaphor for God—don't exist." Richard
Dawkins alluded to unicorns in this connection in his 2006 book The God
Delusion, writing that "Russell's teapot, of course, stands for an
infinite number of things whose existence is conceivable and cannot be
disproved. [...] A philosophical favorite is the invisible, intangible,
inaudible unicorn." In the essay The Dragon in my Garage
from the book The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle In the Dark, Carl
Sagan uses the example of an invisible dragon breathing heatless fire that
someone claims lives in his garage. The supposed dragon cannot be seen, heard,
or sensed in any way, nor does it leave footprints. There is no reason to
believe this purported dragon exists. Religious commentary
Abel and Schaefer have written that the concept of the Invisible Pink Unicorn
only critiques religious belief, ignoring the social activities and
social commitments involved in religious practice.
See also Conversational intolerance
Existence of God Fideism
Out Campaign Religious satire
Theological noncognitivism Church of the SubGenius
Discordianism Dudeism
Evolution as fact and theory Intelligent falling
Reductio ad absurdum Notes
References External links
Media related to Invisible Pink Unicorn at Wikimedia Commons