by Kelly Pelton (written 29 Jan 2022)

This is what people do: scramble to be the first.
Why should we be surprised when the Christians do it, too?
Peaceful times of prosperity allow an unassuaged thirst
for meaning and purpose; the go-getters clamber to be the few

who influence and regulate the rest of their particular population.
They designate a class of followers to support the leaders,
a class of people restricted from full and free participation,
serving as the lesser but "equally important," the bottom feeders

who spend their time on the mundane tasks to unencumber
the brightest and best from all that may distract from growing
their empires, some "to the glory of God," though consciences slumber
in failing to notice inequity. History is always showing

that this is what people do, subordinate a type of person 
who's different from you, in skin color, gender, Gentile or Jew.
We study the past because we will repeat it and also will worsen
the sin of mistreatment by denying we do it, denying we devalue.

We think ourselves smarter, our modern minds surely knowing better
than Nazis and southern slave owners and KKK; our way is God's way
with females unequal to males in function, deception a fetter
that holds women captive in this world culture of power play.