Fundie Fridays, the Snarky Critic of Conservative Religious Zeal, Faces YouTube Termination

“People in our videos all have the same spirit of a fundamentalist, dogmatic zealot,” Sutphin said on Fundie Fridays’ process of vetting potential subjects. As a personal project, Sutphin has been trying to define fundamentalism for six months.

“Not to quote Clarence Thomas, but I’m unsure how to define fundamentalism, however, I know it when I see it,” Bryant said.

The Context of Computational Coping

The pairing lives in Mid-Missouri, a state with intersecting sensibilities from the Midwest and South, securely cinched by the Bible Belt. Over three-quarters of Missouri’s population identifies as Christian, according to Pew Research. Despite the homogeneous religiosity of their surrounding communities, the two were not raised in a religion. But, thanks to the pair’s peripheral contact with conservative zeal — both religious and political — they conducted research in their spare time on fundamentalism. “Just for fun,” said Sutphin.

Since neither of the two has a religious background, they adopt an anthropological perspective. The channel is a result of Sutphin’s tangential exposure to the faith, a fascination with fanaticism and a particularly rough “quarter-life crisis.”

“In the sizable ex-fundamentalist world, we’re alien archaeologists,” Bryant said.

Sutphin grew up as an only child and became interested in the family dynamics of fundamentalism as seen in the TLC show “19 Kids and Counting,” chronicling the life of the very large — and very Independent Baptist — Duggar family. Sutphin originally purchased a laptop to play “Sims” at work. Instead, she learned how to edit footage. Shortly thereafter, Sutphin created the channel. Bryant has a background in social work and left his previous corporate career for Fundie Fridays at the beginning of 2022 and plans on creating his own YouTube channel.

‘Bringing Up Bates’ Backlash

Most recently, however, the couple is facing repercussions via lawsuit threats. Lawson Bates, a musician and one of Gil and Kelly Bates’ 19 children, known from “Bringing Up Bates,” a reality show of the same “large, religious family” genre, hit Fundie Fridays with three copyright complaints between June 18 and June 24 for creating a cover of his song in a parody. The members of the Bates family are evangelical, conservative Christians, known for their “quiverfull” ideology, an approach to family that encourages having as many children as possible.

In response to Bates’ copyright strikes against the channel, YouTube blocked Fundie Fridays from posting and the channel remains on hold, awaiting final review of Fundie Fridays’ counter notifications.

But Sutphin and Bryant aren’t nervous, saying that their video falls under fair use. Additionally, their fan base is steadfast, some even emailing Bates on the couple’s behalf, voicing their frustration over the channel’s suspension.

“We cannot stop our people from voicing their displeasure with something that is clearly an abuse,” said Sutphin. As of Monday (June 27), the couple was waiting to hear about the next steps in the legal process.

Fans First and Future-Forward

Fundie Fridays skillfully juggles Discord, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube to build a deeply loyal connection with fans, many of whom have experienced religious trauma.

One subscriber, Emily Walters, a 24-year-old hairdresser in Minneapolis, started watching Fundie Fridays a year ago. Walters said she enjoys the parasocial relationship innate in Sutphin’s conversational style. Walters grew up living with her maternal grandparents, who were “intensely Roman Catholic.”