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#1
11-15-2007, 06:54 PM
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Is There Any Significant Difference Between Belief in Deity and Belief in the IPU?
In another thread, someone asserted there was a fundamental difference or two between belief in deity and belief in the "Invisible Pink Unicorn" or "IPU". I'm curious to explore the notion there's a fundamental or significant difference. So, do you think there's a fundamental or significant difference between belief in deity and belief in the IPU? If so, what is that difference? If not, why not?
Please note: I'm not interested in debating whether deity exists or not -- merely in debating whether there is a significant or fundamental difference between believing in deity and believing in the IPU. Thank you.
__________________
Then I came back from where I'd been. My room, it looked the same - but there was nothing left between The Nameless and the name. - Leonard Cohen. 
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#2
11-15-2007, 06:56 PM
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One is a parody of the other.
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Questions about my beliefs? Click here. We do not fear the night, who have loved the stars so fondly. 
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#3
11-15-2007, 07:01 PM
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It would depend on the seriousness of the individual. A person's view of reality is unique to everyone else's, and if that view seriously includes an invisible pink unicorn, then how does that differ from another's inclusion of God?
The difference could be in the nature of how an invisible pink unicorn and a God are perceived. An invisible pink unicorn appears not as likely to play the same part as a God.
__________________
"Yo ho, yo ho Over the raging sea we go! Yo ho, yo ho Wherever the four winds blow!" 
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#4
11-15-2007, 07:05 PM
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Yeah, sure, there's a difference....IPU is a lot more likely. lol
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#5
11-15-2007, 07:11 PM
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Yes.
Tradition. It goes a long way in developing cultural and social ties. The IPU and other satirical concepts hold no true cultural value as much as they do an intellectual and humorous placeholder. They lack any strong sense of cultural identification. They hardly amount to subculture.
__________________
And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legislation: for we are many.
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#6
11-15-2007, 09:44 PM
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Deity can be a reasonable inference.
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if G-d ( G-d is not 'X' for all 'X' )
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#7
11-15-2007, 09:59 PM
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Quote:
Outside of the fact millions of people think of "god" more as either a personel figure or an entity.... or a mysterious force to some.. lifeless or not, what have you.. and IPU as few, I'm sure, people actually visualize this beautiful creature.... well then I see no difference. As long as the ideal of both was that they acted as and hold the same properties, excluding the physical properties we try to associate the concept with.
__________________
"Theologians, they don't know nothing about my soul."
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#8
11-15-2007, 10:58 PM
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No difference.
Anyone who puts a belief in either of these will still have to confront, reason and conclude these beliefs to either a Truth or an Untruth. Faith will not do this for them.
__________________
To exclude data because it does not fit a particular view of reality can only, in the end, arrest the progress of science and keep us ignorant- John Edward Mack
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#9
11-16-2007, 07:31 AM
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It is fine to equate belief in deity and belief in the IPU as long as the word "belief" is restricted to the rigorous philosophical sense. For most people, "belief" implies "personal relationship with" which would not make the comparison valid.
If we are merely analysing the content of two propositions then the two can be viewed as comparable and, furthermore, the IPU should be seen, in this scenario, as an illustration not a parody just as Gaunilo's island was an illustration not a parody.
__________________
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#10
11-16-2007, 08:38 AM
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