Don't Worry, They're the Good Fundamentalists

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I want to nerd out with everyone for a moment. How many of you are familiar with the DC comics character Black Adam? Not the one that the Rock played in that stupid movie, but the actual character that was created by Otto Binder and C.C. Beck. Teth-Adam.

It’s a fascinating character. Originally he was designed to be a supervillain for Captain Marvel (better known as Shazam). Around the 2011 launch of New 52 he was redesigned to be possibly one of the most intriguing and complex characters in all of comics since Magneto.

Teth-Adam was born a slave. He was given power to fight the seven deadly sins. He used his godlike powers to become the champion for the slaves and to free his people in the fictional land of Kahndaq. This all happened during the same time as the pyramids, and Black Adam was seen as a myth and legend to the people of Kahndaq after he was sealed away in a tomb.

When he is woken during the current time period, he sees that his country and his people are treated like the people of modern day Iran. Black Adam decides to enact biblical style punishment on those in power who manipulate the population and force suffering on their own people.

Consider that for a moment. A former slave from ancient Egypt is given godlike powers, frees his people, and then is entombed for thousands of years. When he wakes up he finds that the world is exactly what it was before he gained his powers. The poor are used as cattle and the people are manipulated into working against their best interest.

I was thinking about this the other day while I was reading through one of the most hateful, ill-informed, ignorant posts I’ve ever seen come across Substack. It was a massive article about how much this one person hated Muslims and what he blamed Muslims for. Things that they had nothing to do with, he attributed to them.

I’m not proud to admit how much time I spent proving all of his shit wrong, and I know that I was working for no purpose other than to ensure that if anyone reads that pile of hate, they have to see my response giving the correct information on all of the hate he has.

Going through his work I came to the conclusion that all of the things he complained about came down to one simple thing. He was afraid of what he didn’t know.

In fact, I have noticed that almost everything I have seen lately of people spreading misinformation about Muslims can all be attributed to fear. I am a firm believer that the biggest agent of fear is ignorance. Allow me to shed some light into the situation and prove that the fun in fundamental is a trap.

Let me preface all of this by explaining that I lived in Muslim countries from when I was 18 until I was 21. I have been to a significant amount of Muslim countries, and I am proud to say that I fully culturally immersed in them. I was without family, no friends. Just me, in a country where everything was new and different. The people of those countries showed me acceptance and friendship and made me feel like I was home.

So when I talk about this, understand that a significant amount of this is firsthand knowledge.

Let’s start with the things that people are saying they are terrified of happening. The Sharia-Free America Caucus actually has a list of things that they believe they are actively fighting against. They believe that Muslims will replace the court system with their own religious court system. They believe that they will create laws that make any criticism of their religion illegal. They believe that they will cause punishment for people who leave the faith. They believe they will enforce a dress code on women of all ages. They believe they will legalize polygamy.

They claim that there will be child marriage and female mutilation. The movement is clear that they believe Sharia makes crimes of blasphemy, apostasy, adultery, and homosexuality, and makes legal polygamy, domestic violence, female circumcision, forced child marriage, honor killings, and violent jihad.

Understand that the same people who are pushing this agenda are the same people who demand to have “In God We Trust” on all our money. They are the same people who demand you wish them Merry Christmas. They are the same people who place the Ten Commandments in front of courthouses.

The same people who are afraid of laws against blasphemy of Islam are the same people who have passed laws to put the Ten Commandments in every classroom and the same people who made sure every Oklahoma classroom has at least one Bible. These are the same people who made sure NSPM-7 included anti-Christian values as terrorism.

These are the same people who demand that women dress like women. These are the same people who call for using the 1873 Comstock Act to criminally prosecute anyone who mails abortion pills, effectively a nationwide abortion ban, plus reversing the ACA contraception mandate, and who direct HHS to “maintain a biblically based, social science-reinforced definition of marriage and family.”

They claim they fear Sharia law making homosexuality illegal, while Texas still has a sodomy statute on the books. They have been working tirelessly to make same sex marriage illegal. Yet they claim that Sharia law is trying to ruin American freedom.

Fifty-six percent of Republicans qualify as Christian nationalism Adherents or Sympathizers per PRRI’s 22,000-interview 2025 survey. Understand that means more than half of the Republican party sees no difference between what is American and what is Christian. They also don’t understand why that is problematic. The same people who are rallying against religious freedom are the same ones who are demanding religious superiority for their own people.

I want to be clear here with what I’m saying. This isn’t “Muslim good, Christian bad.” This is about that simple truth that people can’t seem to recognize. When people like myself look at fundamentalism, we see the same thing with different hats.

The only difference I have ever seen between Christian fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalism, Jewish fundamentalism, and even Hindu fundamentalism is the name of the old man who wants to yell at me for not doing what his religion says.

I’ve stated that I grew up Greek Orthodox. In fact, when I was living in Egypt I was blessed to go to St. Catherine’s Monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai. I took my Yiayia with me actually. We were able to go in and view the supposed “burning bush” because we were Greek Orthodox. They were turning away anyone who wasn’t Greek Orthodox. I felt like a VIP.

Understand that I was able to do that in a Muslim country. No one told me that I was wrong to do it. No one ever told me my beliefs were wrong. Almost every friend I had was Muslim, and yet none of them ever told me that I had to convert to their belief system.

Sure, they didn’t offer me a ham sandwich. They also didn’t demand that I adhere to their beliefs. I want people to understand that it was a Muslim country. Islam was law. Yet I was accepted as who I am and never forced to change because of my beliefs.

Yes, I had to adjust some things in my life because of their belief system. I tried not to be an asshole and eat in front of people during Ramadan. It was really strange having the weekend be Friday and Saturday. Sure, I missed getting bacon. Yet nothing in any of that was an attack on me or an attempt to force me to live my life in accordance with their beliefs.

Meanwhile in America we overturn Roe v. Wade because the religious right claims it to be against their religion. If a department store doesn’t say Merry Christmas during the months of October to December, there is a 12 day special news event on Fox News. The same people who preach fear of an Islamic takeover are the same ones who have been pushing for a Christian takeover.

During that little conversation I had with the bigot who made all the misinformation, he argued purely in memes. One of the memes he shared said it was a direct quote from the Qur’an. He said he had read the Qur’an and verified that the meme was true. He was unaware that I’ve also read the Qur’an.

He said that Qur’an 8:39 said “Wage war on all non-Muslims and kill them until they submit and Islam is the only religion.” Had he been talking to me face to face, I would have slapped the stupid out of him.

Qur’an 8:39: “And fight against them until there is no more oppression and all worship is devoted to God alone. And if they desist, behold, God sees all that they do.” This is God speaking to the prophet Muhammad during a time period when the Islamic people were facing severe persecution. God tells the Prophet Muhammad to offer forgiveness to those who oppose Islam, promising that if they stop their hostility and disbelief, their previous sins will be wiped away.

That’s right, God said that if the people persecuting them stop, then they are forgiven. Sounds a lot like what Jesus taught in the Bible, doesn’t it? Doesn’t it seem strange that the same people who would tell you not to interpret the Bible in a way that fits your life are the same ones doing it to the Qur’an?

The same person also explained how Islam is responsible for all the bombings and killings in terrorist attacks. They state that Islam promotes violence and their followers will stop at nothing until they kill anyone who is a non-believer.

These same people don’t understand history. These same people think the world started in 1970. It’s also why they say racism is over.

Things like this make me wonder what would have happened if Teth-Adam had been American. Maybe a woman born in Salem during the Salem witch trials. A hero who saved women from religious extremism and set her people free.

What would she think when she woke up now?

I highly doubt that she would be able to tell the difference between the bigotry and hate of the religious extremists of the Salem witch trials and the fundamentalists of today. Maybe it’s time we got our own anti-hero to save the day.

Stay loud, stay informed, stay dangerous.

-Nicholas J. Orcutt

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