Reform Movement: Concordat of Worms

low morals of the clergy
attaching themselves to wealth
and authority, thus unleash the whole
controversy, excommunications, head-on
clash with exile

outgrowth of
modern religion,
we overthrow the
lay princes more concerned
that priests and abbots be loyal
to them than that they be morally upright

reform movement
provoking the wrath
gains momentum as
we sweep corruption
and ancient laws of the
church with quaker brooms

selective breeding
zoological garden encourages
animals to breed threatened with
extinction, some species breed too
well in captivity creating difficulties when
their numerous offspring have to be fed and
housed; other species are not nearly so adaptable
when kept in zoos fail to breed

forestalling religion
eliminates the need to
capture,

reform movement
guards against the loss
of genetic diversity, hereditary
differences among individuals within
a species, allowing adaptation and survival
changes in the environment

In the wild, genetic
diversity is maintained
by the sheer number of
animals in a particular population;
a large breeding population means
that animals have a wide choice of partners
when they breed.

In zoos, however,
animals have a limited
choice of partners, increasing
the chance for inbreeding, mating
between closely related animals

genetic diversity
of zoo populations
steadily declines as a
result of inbreeding; this
growing genetic uniformity
can have serious consequences

inbred animals
share so many genes,
they are likely to be equally
vulnerable to disease and other
forms of stress.

a potentially
lethal religious disease
strikes the population with
a similar genetic makeup, the
entire group dies

Copyright Ms. Sage Sweetwater, firebrand lesbian novelist