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How the Fundamentalist Pipeline Almost Got Us

Alyssa Grenfell

317,049 views

Fundamentalism doesn’t happen overnight—it’s often a slow slide from belonging to extremism. 🚩 In this video, Drew and I break down the stages of radicalization, share our own religious experiences, and explain how people may end up burying themselves in extremist ideas. From chanting on my mission to the split between LDS and FLDS, we show how the funnel works. And yes, it’s not just religion—this same pattern shows up in politics, culture, and modern lifestyle movements.

Check out my collaboration with Drew on his channel here: Every Conspiracy Theory I Was Taught as a ...

My book, How to Leave the Mormon Church: https://a.co/d/caSGZTa

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20 Comments

@alyssadgrenfell Creator 11 months ago Pinned

Hey everyone! If you liked this video, consider checking out my bonus content on Patreon! 💙
You can check out my Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/thoughts-on-alex-141441354?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

@meaganmariezuko 1 year ago

this is like when you see two of your favorite teachers who you’ve never seen interact before taking shots at the bar together 😭😭

@GeneticallyModifiedSkeptic 1 year ago

The Fundie to atheist youtuber pipeline is also very real apparently.
Thanks for having me on! Your channel freaking rules

@CatherineMcClain 1 year ago

My mom converted to Orthodox Christianity and immediately became very fundamentalist right after my dad died. On one hand, she got a community and filled a big hole in her life, but I also feel like she was taken advantage of. It really grosses me out when religious people see someone struggling and decide to "strike", but they often may be doing in earnestly without realizing how grossly opportunistic it is. I keep having to remind myself of that.

@maddiedenike8802 1 year ago

ohh I think Drew hit the nail on the head when he said that the men who get upset about women content creators having nose rings or dyed hair and calling it ugly are reacting that way because they think the male gaze should rule women's lives and they don't like when women make choices according to their own preferences rather than what men like

@irkydirky1071 1 year ago

What's crazy is that he said addiction is a catalyst to go further in, in my personal story it was the straw that broke the camels back. I was in recovery and homeless and every time i made progress there was someone saying "Go is good, look what he did for you" or something to that effect. I got very tired of hearing he helped get me out of the mess I created, always putting me down for the beginning but never crediting me with the work I was doing. Call it hubris if you want but I was and still am damn proud of crawling out of that hell and i was taking full credit!

@theantibot 1 year ago

Omg I love the thumbnail with you holding an actual pipe 😂

@morcelubob8295 1 year ago

The vulnerability that got me into fundamentalist circles was simply loneliness. I learned only in the last few years that i am autistic, so i was never really able to connect with the public in general. The fundies were the only group of people that i found that were willing to care about me, which also made my leaving the church even harder.

@Booskaboo1993 1 year ago

I believe two things when it comes to abusive relationships, cults, hate groups, con schemes, etc. A person doesn't have to be dumb to be manipulated, just desperate. And shame is one of the hardest emotions to deal with. These two things together make it so easy to get sucked in and so, so hard to leave.

@alliw31 1 year ago

My dad will always say that he was radicalized by Catholic school. He actually took the message of radical love to heart and was shocked when he got older and learned there were people using Jesus’s name to hate

I will always appreciate that the Catholic school I went to was hammering in #1 that Jesus loves everyone regardless of what they’ve done. Super easy to leave the church when they’re more so an element of support if needed, but not a requirement for salvation

@beaker8111 1 year ago

43:00 I'm an ex-mormon and have been for over a decade. I still victim judge women who get sexually assaulted because I was literally taught that if the woman hadn't dressed provocatively or flirted with that man, she wouldn't have been assaulted. Like, wtf is that shit? But it is literally the first thing that STILL pops into my head. It's like a part of my mental foundation even though I KNOW that makes no sense.

@kropotkinnie 1 year ago

seriously my dream team right here. you two have been legit safe spaces for me as a trans person this year. i feel like your voices are actually trustworthy and consistent.

@marycampbell3246 1 year ago

I thought the story about the rural Ohio guy was going to end with “and that man was JD Vance”😂

@intheskywithu 1 year ago

I've been talking about this for years, the trend increases when there is political unrest, a bad economy, wars, etc. It makes people think if they "practice their religion the right way" it will somehow help these things improve. Also it has hard gender roles and norms to control the followers and make them fall into line to also gain back this control.

@thejaceh 1 year ago

44:14 This is the experience of growing up with childhood abuse. There is no past you to go back to, because abuse is all you've ever known, so your sense of self is fractured, you have to start from almost scratch. Victim-Survivors often say "I miss who I was before" but with us, there is no who we were before, because all we know is our fight or flight self. It is a life long work to rebuilding and reforming our minds and who we are. And it can be both liberating and desperating, sometimes at the same time. It just takes a lot of patience and a lot of self love.

@cary9479 1 year ago

I never was religious, but I remember being confused, that we learned that celibacy isn't easy for people and said to myself "If I would be religous I would have no problem with being a nun", it all made sense when I found out that I am aroace.

@daegon1985 7 months ago (edited)

Fun fact, these two were ideological enemies but are now allies because they removed religion as their driver.

@fretfulforest 1 year ago

i appreciate the reminder that just being kind and as present as possible will make a long term difference in the lives of my family

@HeiwaTori 1 year ago

@16:00 i have OCD, my brain literally separates itself between "you HAVE to do this specific thing or else" & "why do i have to do that?" All the time... i can see how someone religious could easily intepret that as god intervening & 'talking' to them

@mopanda81 10 months ago

Hearing that female role models outside the church was actually an aha moment for you is really valuable because I think the secular discourse about the value of those kinds of symbolic or even tokenistic gestures has started to diminish them. These things really do have an impact and people who resist them really do have ulterior motives.