Invisible Pink Unicorn

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The Invisible Pink Unicorn

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The Invisible Pink Unicorn in San Juan, Puerto Rico

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The Invisible Pink Unicorn is a female deity in the form of a unicorn which is both invisible and pink. The goddess was invented at the Usenet discussion group alt.atheism as an alternative to other parody deities like Church of the SubGenius "J. R. Bob Dobbs" or Eris of the Discordianism. Quoting from the alt.atheism FAQ:

The IPU is the Invisible Pink Unicorn (blessed be her holy hooves).

[...]

Like most Goddesses, she's invisible and highly unlikely to exist. However, there is much argument as to her exact colour, her shape and size, and other properties of her nonexistence. She burns with anger against theists, and allegedly grinds them beneath her holy hooves.

The believers' famous sayings about faith in the Invisible Pink Unicorn is that, like other religions, it is founded in science and faith. Science -- she must be invisible, since we cannot see her. Faith -- we know in our heart that the Invisible Pink Unicorn exists. This is of course a parody of the theological reasoning of other religions.

The idea is that because it is invisible, no one can prove it does not exist (see: unrestricted negative). But if there is no way to detect it, how do we know it is pink or has a single horn? Another issue that the concept of the Invisible Pink Unicorn pokes fun at is the issue of contradictions in various religions - there is no way for something to be both "pink" and "invisible". Similarly, many people argue that omnipotence and omniscience -- traits often attributed to deities -- are contradictory, and many people point to sections of the Bible or the Koran and point out sections that are contradictory.

The name of the Invisible Pink Unicorn is usually followed in Brackets by a sentence similar to the one Muslims use when mentioning the prophet Muhammad. Blessed Be Her Holy Hooves, Peace Be Unto Her, or May Her Hooves Never Be Shod are often used which in turn are often shortened to bbhhh; pbuh or mhhnbs respectively.