Posted on 06/11/2011 7:21:25 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Evangelicals have come out in opposition to a proposed ban on circumcision in northern California.
The National Association of Evangelicals, which represents more than 45,000 local churches, released a statement on Thursday expressing solidarity with Jewish and Muslim leaders in their stance against the ban.
“While evangelical denominations traditionally neither require nor forbid circumcision, we join Jews and Muslims in opposing this ban and standing together for religious freedom," said NAE President Leith Anderson.
"Jews, Muslims, and Christians all trace our spiritual heritage back to Abraham. Biblical circumcision begins with Abraham. No American government should restrict this historic tradition. Essential religious liberties are at stake."
Voters in San Francisco will have the chance to vote on a measure in November that, if approved, would outlaw circumcision of male children. There would be no religious exemption and a violation of the law would be punishable with fines up to $1,000 or one year in jail.
Behind the controversial ballot initiative is Lloyd Schofield, who collected more than 7,700 signatures to get the measure before voters this year.
"The base of our argument is you're spending incredible amounts of money doing painful and damaging surgery to an unwilling patient," Schofield, a partnered homosexual, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
The frequency of circumcision in the United States is unknown, as hospitals are not legally required to report how many they perform. According to organizers behind a similar bill (Genital Mutilation Prohibition Act), the average U.S. circumcision rate fell from 56 percent in 2006 to 33 percent in 2009. The statistics are based on government surveys.
Circumcision is least practiced on the West Coast.
The American Academy of Pediatrics reaffirmed in 2005 a policy statement that says the decision to perform a circumcision should be left to the parents to determine what is in the best interest of the child.
"In the case of circumcision, in which there are potential benefits and risks, yet the procedure is not essential to the child's current well-being, parents should determine what is in the best interest of the child," the AAP states.
"In the pluralistic society of the United States in which parents are afforded wide authority for determining what constitutes appropriate child-rearing and child welfare, it is legitimate for the parents to take into account cultural, religious, and ethnic traditions, in addition to medical factors, when making this choice."
The practice of circumcision is an important tradition in Jewish and Muslim communities. Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles commented on The Washington Post's On Faith forum that he finds the proposed ban "faintly ludicrous and very offensive."
"There is an undercurrent of contempt for religious belief in general that drives this measure," he stated, adding that he carries the covenant of Abraham in his flesh. "The authors think of themselves as liberal but they are actually coercive; they are believers in transcendence as well, but it is in the transcendence of their own judgment."
He disagreed with a select few imposing their beliefs on the rest of the public.
"We make scores of decisions for our children that are determinative of their lives: where to live, where to go to school, what to eat, what language to learn, what books and television shows to watch when young. Increasingly there is a cadre of people who believe they know better; that all children should be raised as they raise their own."
Where are the Jews anyway?
Most American Jews are liberals, you would be hard pressed to find a single conservative Jew of child bearing age in the Bay area.
Liberals despise Israel and conservative Jews almost as much as the love Mao.
The math does itself.
My own wife and I are expecting and I have been wondering, if we have a son, will I have him circumsized? I am not a Jew but I am Jew-”ish.”
Other than religious reasons, why would I have my son circumsized?
American Jews aren’t on the cutting edge of many issues these days. Why should this be any different?
Quite a number of Christians (including Evangelicals) are “cut” and do observe the practice for religious reasons.
Sounds like abortion.
RE: Why should this be any different?
Because this law banning circumcision affect JEWS and what they have been practicing for thousands of years.... Unless of course, they don’t care anymore...
There was a tradition of actual ritual circumcision in the British royal family (supposedly because they are descended from King David). Prince Charles was circumcised by a traditional mohel, but Charles and Di did not continue the tradition with their sons.
RE: Other than religious reasons, why would I have my son circumsized?
If you are not a Jew and are a Christian, you are NOT REQUIRED to circumcize your son (IOW, there is NO RELIGIOUS REQUIREMENT IN CHRISTIANITY FOR CIRCUMCISION. You are free to do as you see fit).
However, if you want a scientific/medical case for doing it, maybe these sites might help you :
http://www.hivplusmag.com/NewsStory.asp?id=21817&sd=01/21/2010
and here:
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/the-case-for-neonatal-circumcision/
I’m going to work on getting a Weiner joke into this thread.
OK, since his has already been circulated on the internet (courtesy of the inadverted release by Andrew Breitbart), I’m sure you can determine whether or not he has been circumcized...
All I can say that if he is, that really might have helped his libido :)
Remember that these anti-Semites are horrified to take away this foreskin from a baby at 40 weeks, but when he’s still unborn at 30 weeks, they have no problem disposing of the entire boy.
There is no practical reason to circumcize at birth other than genital malformation. Later in life, there may be medical reasons, but they’re not exactly common.
For Christians, there isn’t a religious reason, either, since we’re no longer under the Law of the Old Testament. Most often, circumcision is elected so the boy will be like his father.
That said, banning this practice is unconstitutional on its face. Wrong, wrong, wrong. I oppose any ban, even though I don’t especially support it being done.
The suffering of POWs that were not circumsized was horrendous. Infection and disease are so much worse in prison conditions for the uncircumsized. Returning POWs recommended circumcision because of the suffering.
Quite a number of Christians (including Evangelicals) are “cut” and do observe the practice for religious reasons.
What groups of Christians circumcise for "religious reasons"?
Shouldn’t they tweet Anthony Weiner for his opinion on this...it’s right up his alley.
I was ready to whack his Dad's pee-pee by the time that child healed because of all the pain he went through.
As far as the biblical practice goes... I have heard that the blood clotting factors are optimum at 8 days of age, which makes sense as to why it would be customary for the Jews to wait... instead of doing it right after the birth.
as hospitals are not legally required to report how many they perform................................ LOL, follow the $$$$$ that’s what its about. I got suckered into it twice with my boys, and now they ask why we did we do it? If they ever pass a law saying it can be done only after the age 18, just how many do you think would do it? Hospitals and doctors don’t want to lose millions of dollars, operating room cost, instruments, nursery care, trays, whatever, it all adds up and the more they do, the more they make.
“Other than religious reasons, why would I have my son circumsized?”
There are some medical reasons - less chance of a certain cancer (penile? or testicular? or both?), lower AIDS transmission -
although there are those that say with good hygiene it is not a factor.
In Africa they are heavily promoting circumcision to cut down future AIDS cases.
I think circumcision is totally optional but I don’t think there should be a law about it.
There is a much lower rate of cervix cancer among women whose husbands have been circumcised.
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