Genetically Modified Skeptic

Andrew "Drew" McCoy,https://youtu.be/c9j0SI-xMIY?t=26https://twitter.com/gm_skeptic better known online as Genetically Modified Skeptic (born June 1, 1994 [age 29]),https://twitter.com/theantibot/status/1399822665234407427https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZjnS1mp88E is an American atheist YouTuber who makes videos about atheism, responses to religious videos, and has also criticised alternative medicine.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsDrIAsVgTQ
==Personal Life==
Drew lives in Texas, with his wife, Taylor. She runs an anti-MLM channel, The Antibot. CosmicSkeptic convinced them to become vegetarian.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FioB3Mi1TJU&t=30s They have a dog, Puggles. Drew is gluten intolerant, and has a chronic illness that makes his metabolism extremely fast.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r78b5JCJl6E&t=389s
===Deconversion===
Drew was raised in an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist community, and strongly believed in concepts such as Young Earth Creationism and biblical inerrancy.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7urcE4IwMf0&t=31s He has a degree in psychology counselling at a religious school, and originally planned to become a licensed professional counsellor. Drew then planned to move to Utah, work with someone he already knew there, and use his influence to convert Mormon patients. However, he left Christianity after getting a Bachelor’s degree.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j93haB27zI4&t=55s In the Summer of 2014, Drew took an astronomy class, and learned how the age of the universe is measured. Not long after this, his family began using and promoting Essential Oils.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7urcE4IwMf0&t=168s He then took a class in statistics and scientific research methods. He began to question the efficacy of Essential Oils. In mid-2015, Drew took a Master’s level course in human sexuality, which caused him to question some aspects of his religion, and become interested in science, including evolution, which he still denied at the time.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7urcE4IwMf0&t=278s After honest inquiry, he understood and accepted evolution.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7urcE4IwMf0&t=369s By early 2016, he decided he no longer had reason to believe in any gods, but didn’t (and still doesn’t) definitively assert their non-existence.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7urcE4IwMf0&t=922s
==YouTube==
Drew’s earliest videos covered topics such as alternative medicine and science denialism. On May 24, 2017, he uploaded his first atheist video, Is Atheism Prideful? He continued to focus on both atheism and alternative medicine. He collaborated with Rationality Rules and CosmicSkeptic on atheism.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzk-uLd6cBohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pAsSVVSlKM
In 2019, he travelled to Israel and Palestine for a three video series. The first video, Asking Palestinians What They Think About Atheists, was uploaded on April 11, 2019. The other videos were about an ultra-orthodox Jewish sect named Bnei Brak.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsMvNZIN72Ehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVdVViqbppY
On August 3, 2019, Drew produced a video with Telltale, titled Ex-Jehovah's Witness Visits JW World Headquarters. In this video, they went undercover to investigate the Jehovah's Witness world headquarters at Warwick, New York, but were eventually stopped by security.
On November 1, 2019, Drew uploaded The Arguments for God's Existence Tier List. This video was the first in a series of tier list videos, which has also covered Doomsday cults.
On February 28, 2020, Drew uploaded Creationist Kent Hovind Challenges Me, I Respond. In the original video, Young earth creationist Kent Hovind responded to Drew and claims he was brainwashed, arguing that evolution is a religion and that Drew had fallen for it. He responded to Drew’s deconversion story "This Is Exactly Why I'm an Atheist," where he discusses how he left Christianity, going from evangelical to atheist. Drew stated in his video description: “The way (Kent) attempted to argue evolution vs creation was not productive, so I discuss what we can do better to elevate the discourse. I'm very careful with response videos and reaction videos, as they often escalate conflict, but I decided to go forward with this video to hopefully encourage us all to do better in these tough conversations.” The phrase “Elevate the discourse” may be in reference to Shannon Q, another atheist YouTuber.
Kent has also done videos on Aron Ra, Matt Dillahunty, Paulogia, and Viced Rhino.
==Faithless Forum==
Drew is the president of Faithless Forum, a convention organised by the YouTube atheist community.https://twitter.com/gm_skeptic It is held annually in Austin, Texas. Due to concerns about COVID-19, the Faithless Forum board decided to cancel Faithless Forum 2020, and reschedule to June 18-20, 2021.https://twitter.com/FaithlessForum/status/1253495263647367170
==Trivia==
*There is a running joke within the YouTube atheist community that Drew and CosmicSkeptic are secretly the same person.https://twitter.com/gm_skeptic/status/1171874547836104704
==Subscriber milestones==
*200,000 subscribers: November 7, 2019https://twitter.com/gm_skeptic/status/1192290517482188800
*300,000 subscribers: August 14, 2020https://twitter.com/gm_skeptic/status/1294051739344216066
*500,000 subscribers: May 8, 2022https://twitter.com/gm_skeptic/status/1523183407727280129
==References==
Category:Commentary YouTubers
Category:American YouTubers
Category:Users who joined in 2017