[ ARC forum 2 ]
Written by Ralesk at 03 Sep 2002 14:16:05: Re: Interesting fact about Religious Circumcision
As an answer to: Re: Interesting fact about Religious Circumcision written by Rood at 03 Sep 2002 02:36:27:
Rood, you're a wonder. I couldn't have said it better!
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>I'm sorry to have to disagree, but genitally mutilating a helpless child is cruel and cowardly. If adult males weren't so afraid of freely making the decision for themselves, according to the strength of their religious beliefs, as did Abraham, the procedure wouldn't have to be forced on children. What does a newborn baby know about religion, about belief, about tradition, about ritual, about sacrifice? That this procedure is forced on them is an indication not of the strength of the religious tradition, but of it's weakness, about its fear of being absorbed and lost, and about the adult fear of pain. You assume, only, that someone that you know as a Jew is circumcised. Do people go around checking? It's a completely meaningless observance, save for the harm done to the sexual life of a married couple, and the possibility of complications to the child. Isn't it a rule that after the second child dies after circumcision that the third may be spared? "Great personal sacrifice" is evidently truer than you admit. Come now, don't be a fool. The Jewish tradition doesn't rely for its validity on genital mutilation. Never has, never will.