The OrphanAGE, Vol. 1.35
First Lines
We slept in what had once been the gymnasium. ~Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale
Coke v. Pepsi. Adidas v. Nike. Chiefs v. Raiders…
Choices, little more than brand loyalties fanned to frothing, act-out super-fandom. And yet, when the curtain is yanked back, when ingredient labels scrutinized, there just isn’t a pube hair difference between their content. We’ve bit our tongues, as the tattooed eyeliner converts lecture those dedicating entire lives to study and the service to others. Pulpit pounders of one stripe incite against the whack-a-doodles of another. Entire civilizations are bombed into the stone age as ancient faiths shoot up magazine offices, stab out the eyes of authors they don’t like. Everyone wrapped in their national hankies, pre-forgiven of their atrocities if they’ll just lip-sync the approved hocus-pocus. And yet, when one drills down, takes a closer gander…
We’ve inveigled PhD’d poet, lyricist, and frontman with grunge-adjacent chamber music ensemble, Godzillionaire, to chip in a couple versifications, and we thought it fitting to revisit a work from our first print issue, by Wes Casey.
Shout if you will, but it just won’t do
I, for one, prefer to follow softer options
~ Jethro Tull, Flying Colors
Peace,
Dante
In This Issue
- Sharia vs. Dominionist
- Painting by Wes Casey
- Poetry by Mark Hennessy
Sharia vs. Dominionist
1. Divine law over civil law
SHARIA FUNDAMENTALIST — God's authority sits above the state — secular law is invalid wherever it conflicts with God's commands.
DOMINIONIST MAGA — God's authority sits above the state — biblical law supersedes the Constitution.
2. Sacred exceptionalism
SHARIA FUNDAMENTALIST — The faith community is God's chosen people, with a mandate to reshape the world beyond national borders.
DOMINIONIST MAGA — America is God's chosen nation, with Christian civilization cast as history's divinely appointed vehicle.
3. The strongman leader
SHARIA FUNDAMENTALIST — A single, authoritative leader — caliph, ayatollah, or emir — is necessary to enforce God's law and unify the faithful under one rule.
DOMINIONIST MAGA — A strong, God-anointed leader is necessary to restore and protect a Christian nation, with personal loyalty to him treated as loyalty to the cause itself.
4. Holy war rhetoric
SHARIA FUNDAMENTALIST — Armed struggle is framed as a religious duty, with martyrdom promised paradise.
DOMINIONIST MAGA — Spiritual-warfare language frames politics as cosmic battle, sometimes casting violence in defense of Christian civilization as sacred duty.
5. Patriarchy & women
SHARIA FUNDAMENTALIST — Men are held to be the head of the household and of society; women's roles center on the home and family, and are subservient to men.
DOMINIONIST MAGA — Men are held to be the head of the household and of society; women's roles center on the home and family, and are subservient to men.
6. Sexuality
SHARIA FUNDAMENTALIST — Sex outside marriage is a grave sin, with harsh penalties enforced communally and legally.
DOMINIONIST MAGA — Sex belongs only within heterosexual marriage; purity and abstinence-only are promoted.
7. Abortion & reproduction
SHARIA FUNDAMENTALIST — Abortion is broadly forbidden; large families are valorized as a religious and communal duty.
DOMINIONIST MAGA — Abortion is treated as murder from conception; large families are framed as a spiritual calling.
8. Opposition to LGBTQ rights
SHARIA FUNDAMENTALIST — Same-sex relations are haram — forbidden — and in some interpretations, criminally punishable.
DOMINIONIST MAGA — Homosexuality is sinful. Campaigns call for conversion therapy for minors, and hardline voices frame LGBTQ rights gains as an existential threat to Christians.
9. Religion vs. secularism
SHARIA FUNDAMENTALIST — In an Islamic Republic, Muslim and civic identity are inseparable; non-Muslims hold second-class status.
DOMINIONIST MAGA — Government is expected to reflect Christian values; secularists are treated as outsiders.
10. Dress & modesty
SHARIA FUNDAMENTALIST — The hijab or niqab is obligatory for women; revealing dress is considered dangerously immodest.
DOMINIONIST MAGA — Some traditions require head coverings or veils (Anabaptist "plain dress," Pentecostal rules against women wearing pants) — revealing dress is seen as moral decline.
11. Media & moral corruption
SHARIA FUNDAMENTALIST — Western media is seen as spreading immorality — censorship to Islamic modesty standards is called for.
DOMINIONIST MAGA — Hollywood and pop culture are framed as promoting anti-Christian decline; elite media is cast as the enemy of faith.
12. Science vs. religious authority
SHARIA FUNDAMENTALIST — Science is accepted only where it doesn't contradict scripture; religious scholars outrank secular experts.
DOMINIONIST MAGA — Public health, climate science, and evolution are dismissed; experts are treated with suspicion.
13. Education & children
SHARIA FUNDAMENTALIST — Religious schooling is preferred over secular curricula, which are seen as corrupting identity and values.
DOMINIONIST MAGA — Public schools are viewed as indoctrinating; homeschools and Christian schools are preferred to preserve faith.
14. Law & punishment
SHARIA FUNDAMENTALIST — Harsh retributive justice is seen as divinely mandated, including corporal and capital punishment.
DOMINIONIST MAGA — Harsh sentencing and corporal or capital punishment are favored, with Old Testament retribution emphasized over New Testament forgiveness.
15. The stranger & foreigners
SHARIA FUNDAMENTALIST — Non-Muslims are treated as subordinate; loyalty is expected to the faith community rather than the state.
DOMINIONIST MAGA — Non-Christian immigration is framed as a demographic threat; borders are treated as divinely established, and globalism as a betrayal of the nation.
16. Intoxicants
SHARIA FUNDAMENTALIST — Alcohol and other intoxicants are haram — forbidden as corrupting to body and spirit — with harsh legal penalties.
DOMINIONIST MAGA — Temperance and holiness traditions treat drunkenness and recreational drug use as sin with harsh legal penalties.
Not the same movement
A few places the two traditions clearly split
Distinctly Sharia fundamentalist
- Zakat / Tawhid economics — wealth serves God and community
- Dietary law — halal, fasting
- Anti-Israel
Distinctly Dominionist MAGA
- Prosperity gospel and capitalism
- Strong emphasis on individual gun ownership
- Pro-Israel
Same structural playbook, different scripture
The parallel isn't about theology — it's about how fundamentalist movements organize power: divine law above civil law, a single anointed leader, strict control over sexuality and gender, suspicion of outsiders — and the belief that force is justified to enforce compliance, that violence carried out in the name of God's edicts can be forgiven, even sanctified.
These are generalizations of movement ideology, and are NOT representative of all Muslims or Christians — meant to illustrate structural parallels, not to equate individual believers.
American Taliban
by Wes Casey
Wes Casey's art is available to view at his website.
Poetry
by Mark Hennessy
Airport Hotel
Welcome, he says.
He says I can see you’re surprised the world didn’t end.
He says I can see your surprise
I can see you, he says.
Are you alone, he says.
He says or are you w/ someone,
he says the rates change
depending on, he says
Do you not want to play anymore, he says.
He says, if you want to play do you want
or do you not want to be it, he says.
Staying long, he says.
He says like planes answer plans,
He says, comfortable room, free air, ice machine.
Check out time he says —
He says, check out time
The Trojan Horse Room
For a moment our house of cards held
& seemed a grand dreaming & ridiculous,
a place to live in from the outside, happy
even, even when the susceptibility of its
support made collapse understood at the
time of construction. What we mean to write
is how it, light, looks like one thing & be
haves like another. What we think gift
we hold close until its veiled fire undoes all
w/out — take up our photo albums? Our power’s
down, we have none. Presented two things:
your gift & absence, we took both w/o question,
like a cartoon rabbit handed us a bomb & we,
too confused to do more than hold it tight, we
airing the face we all do when we are somewhere
else, inside, trying to get the joke.