Joshua Feuerstein

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Joshua Feuerstein
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Joshua Feuerstein (January 7, 1981–)[1] is an American far-right creationist vlogger who got internet famous for his attempts to disprove atheism, although he later got more well known for his right-wing political beliefs. He first received attention in 2015 after his nonsensical videos were responded to by various atheist YouTubers.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Given how relatively recently he was compared to other creationists who became punching bags, his videos were little more than a series of PRATT arguments, mostly of the argument from design variety.

In one video for example, he uses the fallacious argument from design that since his 2001 Toyota Minivan is "perfectly designed," and also not products of millions of years of evolution, therefore we were all created by a deity.[7] Of course, to call any car "perfectly designed" would be absurd, given the cars are constantly updating as technology improves and consumer demand changes. A 2018 article from cars.com documents the various ways vehicles changed just in the previous two decades before the article was published.[11] One has to wonder why changes have to keep being made to a design that is so perfect.

Political activities[edit]

What ended up getting Feuerstein mainstream attention was his right-wing politics, especially in 2015 (although this is not to say he has stopped in the time since). For example, to show his support for a controversial bill from Indiana which would allow Christian bakers to not serve same-sex couples, Feuerstein called Cut the Cake Bakery and asked them to make a cake which had an anti-gay marriage message written on it, which they refused to do. After Feuerstein uploaded the video, his fans attacked the bakery for "hypocrisy" in spite of the fact that said business had not actually done anything hypocritical.[12]

When same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide that same year, Feuerstein was not happy. In a video rant, he took out a gun and said Christians should consider using their "Second Amendment right" to stop the government from forcing them to recognize marriage equality.[13] This is not Feuerstein's only call to violence, as in another rant he said his followers should "punish Planned Parenthood" and "make abortion doctors fear for their life."[14]

Feuerstein ended the year by going to Starbucks and ordering his coffee under the name "Merry Christmas" to protest their use of solid red cups over the holiday season as opposed to ones which were explicitly Christmas-themed.[15] Yes, his plan was to protest Starbucks by ordering from them and therefore giving them more of his money. Still, as silly as this sounds, at least he's not starting a harassment campaign nor engaging in a call to violence, so there's that.

References[edit]