Editing Invisible Pink Unicorn

{{Short description|Satirical goddess of a parody religion}}
[[File:Invisible Pink Unicorn.svg|thumb|A depiction of the Invisible Pink Unicorn, in the style of a [[Heraldry|heraldic]] animal [[Attitude (heraldry)#Salient|springing]]]]

The '''Invisible Pink Unicorn''' ('''IPU''') is the [[goddess]] of a [[parody religion]] used to [[Satire|satirize]] [[Theism|theistic]] beliefs, taking the form of a [[unicorn]] that is [[paradox]]ically both [[Invisibility|invisible]] and [[pink]].<ref name=Angeles1992/> The IPU is a rhetorical illustration used by [[Atheism|atheists]] and other [[religious skepticism|religious skeptics]] as a contemporary version of [[Russell's teapot]], sometimes mentioned in conjunction with the [[Flying Spaghetti Monster]].<ref name=Maartens2006/>

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''.<ref name=Narciso2004/> 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]].<ref name=AbelSchaefer2010/>

== History ==
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Invisible pink unicorn.svg|thumb|The Invisible Pink Unicorn logo]] -->
[[Russell's teapot]] is an [[analogy]] first coined by the philosopher [[Bertrand Russell]] (1872–1970) to illustrate that the [[philosophic burden of proof]] lies upon a person making scientifically [[Falsifiability|unfalsifiable]] claims rather than shifting the burden of proof to others, specifically in the case of religion.<ref>Fritz Allhoff, Scott C. Lowe. ''The Philosophical Case Against Literal Truth: Russell's Teapot // Christmas - Philosophy for Everyone: Better Than a Lump of Coal''. — John Wiley and Sons, 2010. — Т. 5. — P. 65–66. — 256 p. — (Philosophy for Everyone). — {{ISBN|9781444330908}}.</ref> Russell wrote that, if he claims that a [[teapot]] orbits the Sun somewhere in space between the Earth and Mars, it is nonsensical for him to expect others to believe him on the ground that they cannot prove him wrong. Russell's teapot is still referred to in discussions concerning the [[existence of God]].

The IPU seems to have become notable primarily through online culture: in addition to [[alt.atheism]], where IPU frequently came up in discussions, there are now a number of web sites dedicated to her. An early documented reference to the IPU was on July 7, 1990, on the [[Usenet]] discussion group alt.atheism.<ref name=Gibson1990/> 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 [[ISCABBS|ISCA]] [[Telnet]]-based [[Bulletin board system|BBS]]. The students created a [[manifesto]] that detailed a nonsensical (yet internally consistent) religion based on a multitude of invisible pink unicorns.<ref name=Ashman2007/> It is from this document that the most famous quotation concerning IPUs originated:

{{quote|
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.|Serah Eley<ref>{{Cite web |title=Episode 058 : Serah Eley by Evil Twin Podcast - #EVLTWN |url=https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/evil-twin-podcast-evltwn-37021/episodes/episode-058-serah-eley-1350188 |access-date=2022-03-10 |website=Podchaser |language=en}}</ref><ref name=PolingPoolePoling2003/><ref name=Huberman2006/>
}}

== Concepts ==
[[File:Invisible Pink Unicorn.png|thumb|Blank images have been humorously presented as depictions of the Invisible Pink Unicorn in order to highlight her invisibility.<ref name=klog2005/> (In this image, [[alpha compositing]] makes it transparent.)]]
It is common when discussing the Invisible Pink Unicorn to point out that because she is invisible, no one can [[Falsifiability|prove]] that she does not exist (or indeed that she is not pink). 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 (pink), are inconsistent and contradictory; this is part of the satire. The paradox of something being invisible yet having visible characteristics ([[color]]) is reflected in some [[East Asia]]n cultures, wherein an [[Red string of fate|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 only to those who have faith in her (bearing similarities to "[[The Emperor's New Clothes]]").<ref name=Ashman2007/> Some arguments are quite elaborate and tortuous, satirizing the disputatiousness and intricacy of the theological debates that occur in many religions.<ref name=Ashman2007/>

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: 
{{quote|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.|[[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] 1:1 (modified)<ref name=PolingPoolePoling2003/><ref name=Huberman2006/>}}

== Similar concepts ==
[[File:The_meeting_of_day_and_night_in_a_mountain_valley_with_invisible_pink_unicorn.jpg|thumb|A parody [[motivational poster]] depicting the Invisible Pink Unicorn.]]
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 Edwin F Kagin and the Free Inquiry Group of Cincinnati. 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."<ref name="Clark2006" /> [[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."<ref name="Dawkins2006" />

== Further reading ==
{{Portal|Religion|Comedy|Philosophy|Science}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Alberts |first1=Thomas |title=Virtually real: Fake religions and problems of authenticity in religion |journal=Culture and Religion |date=2008 |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=125–139 |doi=10.1080/14755610802211510|s2cid=170461604 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Lodi |first1=Simona |title=Augmented Reality Art: From an Emerging Technology to a Novel Creative Medium |date=2014 |publisher=Springer International Publishing |isbn=978-3-319-06203-7 |page=278 |language=en |chapter=Spatial Narratives in Art}}
*{{cite book |last1=Quillen |first1=Ethan G. |title=New Atheism: Critical Perspectives and Contemporary Debates |date=2017 |publisher=Springer International Publishing |isbn=978-3-319-54964-4 |pages=193–220 |language=en |chapter=The Satirical Sacred: New Atheism, Parody Religion, and the Argument from Fictionalization}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em|refs=

<ref name=AbelSchaefer2010>{{cite journal|url=http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2010/2010-8.pdf|title=Seeing Through the Invisible Pink Unicorn|journal=Journal of Religion and Society|author1=Andrew Stuart Abel|author2=Andrew Schaefer|volume=12|year=2010|issn=1522-5658|publisher=Rabbi Myer and Dorothy Kripke Center for the Study of Religion and Society|access-date=2012-07-25|archive-date=2013-12-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230025157/http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2010/2010-8.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

<ref name=Angeles1992>
  {{cite book|last=Angeles|first=Peter A.|title=Harper Collins Dictionary of Philosophy|publisher=Harper Perennial, New York|year=1992|isbn=0-06-461026-8}}</ref>

<ref name=Ashman2007>
  {{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A18592815|title=The Invisible Pink Unicorn|access-date=2008-05-08|author=Alex Tufty Ashman|date=2007-02-08|work=[[h2g2]]|publisher=[[BBC]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091008061501/https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A18592815|archive-date=2009-10-08|url-status=dead}}</ref>

<ref name=Clark2006>
  {{cite news|url=http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060721/NEWS01/607210412 |title=Camp: "It's Beyond Belief" |first=Michael D. |last=Clark |work=[[The Cincinnati Enquirer]] |date=2006-07-21 |access-date=2006-08-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060813115617/http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20060721%2FNEWS01%2F607210412 |archive-date=August 13, 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

<ref name=Dawkins2006>
  {{cite book|last=Dawkins|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Dawkins|title=[[The God Delusion]]|edition=Trade paperback|year=2006|publisher=Bantam Press|location=Kent|isbn=978-0-593-05825-1|pages=52–53|chapter=The God hypothesis: the poverty of agnosticism}}</ref>

<ref name=Gibson1990>{{cite newsgroup|newsgroup=alt.atheism|url=http://groups.google.co.za/group/alt.atheism/msg/be8d2b066460dcbc|title='Proof' of God's Existence|access-date=2007-04-10|author=Scott Gibson|message-id=3704@qip.UUCP|date=1990-07-17|quote=how about refuting the existence of invisible pink unicorns?|archive-date=2009-07-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090714134738/http://groups.google.co.za/group/alt.atheism/msg/be8d2b066460dcbc|url-status=dead}}</ref>

<ref name=Huberman2006>
  {{cite book|title=The Quotable Atheist|author=Jack Huberman|page=[https://archive.org/details/quotableatheista0000unse/page/103 103]|publisher=Nation Books|year=2006|isbn=1-56025-969-8|url=https://archive.org/details/quotableatheista0000unse/page/103}}</ref>

<ref name=klog2005>{{cite web|url=http://subjunctive.net/klog/2005/07/portrait_of_the_invi/|title=Portrait of the Invisible Pink Unicorn|work=the klog|date=2005-07-23|author=Kenneth|access-date=2007-01-15|archive-date=2016-12-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161205234528/http://subjunctive.net/klog/2005/07/portrait_of_the_invi/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

<ref name=Maartens2006>
  {{cite book|last=Maartens|first=Willie|title=Mapping Reality: A Critical Perspective on Science and Religion|publisher=iUniverse|date=2006-06-01|isbn=0-595-40044-2|page=191}}</ref>

<ref name=Narciso2004>
  {{cite book|last=Narciso|first=Dianna|title=Like Rolling Uphill: Realizing the Honesty of Atheism |publisher=Media Creations|date=2004-03-01|isbn=1-932560-74-2|page=5}}</ref>

<ref name=PolingPoolePoling2003>
  {{cite book|title=Do Science and the Bible Conflict?|author1=Judson Poling|author2=Garry Poole|author3=MS Debra Poling|publisher=Zondervan|page=[https://archive.org/details/dosciencebibleco0000poli/page/20 20]|year=2003|isbn=978-0-310-24507-0|url=https://archive.org/details/dosciencebibleco0000poli/page/20}}</ref>

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<ref name=Sagan1997> 
  {{cite book|chapter-url=http://www.users.qwest.net/~jcosta3/article_dragon.htm|chapter=The Dragon In My Garage|author-link=Carl Sagan|first=Carl|last=Sagan|title=The Demon-Haunted World: Science As A Candle In the Dark|isbn=0-345-40946-9|publisher=Ballantine Books|year=1997|pages=171–173|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806082037/http://www.users.qwest.net/~jcosta3/article_dragon.htm|archive-date=2011-08-06}}</ref> -->

}}
<!-- 11/08 links (HIDDEN) -->
<!--* {{cite web|url=http://www.palmyria.co.uk/humour/ipu.htm|title=The Invisible Pink Unicorn Gospel|work=Satire & Humour|author=Catherine Leah Palmer}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.pinkunicorn.net|title=The New Revised ''Reformed'' Amalgamated Vegnautic Sect of the IPU}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.theipu.com|title=The Invisible Pink Unicorn Blog}}
* {{cite web|url=http://filer.case.edu/bct4/|title=Invisible Pink Unicorn Ministries}}
* {{cite web|url=http://theinvisiblepinkunicorn.com/|title=Virtual Temple of the Invisible Pink Unicorn}}
* [http://www.invisiblepinkunicorn.com/ Invisible Pink Unicorn logo]-->

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline|Invisible Pink Unicorn}}

{{Irreligion}}

[[Category:Atheism activism]]
[[Category:Criticism of religion]]
[[Category:Fictional characters introduced in 1990]]
[[Category:Fictional characters who can turn invisible]]
[[Category:Parody religion deities]]
[[Category:Pink symbols]]
[[Category:Religious parodies and satire]]
[[Category:Unicorns]]
[[Category:Fictional goddesses]]