Joshua Feuerstein is a viral sensation yet again with a ranting video about Starbucks’ “War on Christmas” and their decision to remove Christmas imagery from their annual Holiday cups. The pastor went on CNN to discuss his latest crusade with anchor Brianna Keilar and radio host Pete Dominick.
Unfortunately, there was an audio issue that prevented Feuerstein from hearing Dominick dismantle his opinions and put the focus on Feuerstein’s other videos, where he calls for Christians to arm themselves to fight gay rights, which landed him in the news before.
Last week, Starbucks revealed their 2015 Holliday cups, which are plain red. Feuerstein posted a rant online where he ordered a coffee, telling the barista that his name was “Merry Christmas,” which he said was “tricking” Starbucks into acknowledging Jesus.
“I think it’s much more than just a cup, I think it’s the overall narrative and I think that the cup is very symbolic – parabolic – in that it parallels a society that is essentially trying to remove Christmas from Christmas,” said Feuerstein, also mentioning the South Park Mall’s removal of their Christmas tree and cities banning churches from displaying nativity scenes.
Dominick struggled to contain laughter while Feuerstein spoke, and responded by calling Feuerstein an “entrepreneurial bigot” for his numerous attempts to ignite outrage online. Dominick mentioned Feuerstein’s previous anti-gay rights videos and mocked him for criticizing Starbucks, then buying their coffee and telling others to do the same. Feurersetin could not hear Dominick’s accusations, and stuck to the Starbucks issue when responding.
Dominick also pointed out to Feurerstein that Starbucks never used Christian imagery on their merchandise, and have always said “Happy Holidays.” In fact, the Starbucks cups have used minimal designs and patterns for the last few years, so a shift to total minimalism is not unprecedented.
The other issues that Feuerstein mentioned — the Christmas tree and nativity removal — are similarly inflated. The South Park Mall in Charolette, NC, attempted to display a North Pole glacier in the center of the mall, but will install a Christmas tree instead after public outcry. There are no reports of church nativity scenes ever being removed by the government.
Although the audio issues complicated the debate, Feuerstein managed to get his point in: Christians make up a large segment of the population, and should speak out when they are being oppressed.
He ended his appearance by asking “If this is not a Judeo-Christian society, why did Obama have to pretend to be one to get elected?”
Watch, via CNN:
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