The debate below about circumcision has gotten fast and furious. I stand in the untenable position of neither believing that circumcision should be promoted by the authorities as a "health" precaution in the modern world, but also not considering it an abomination in the eyes of the Lord. That being said, one thing that should be value neutral are statistics. Here is a description of the regions of the world where circumcision is and isn't routine. In short, it is a common practice in most of Africa, with the exception of the southern portion of the continent. It is normative amongst Muslims, in the United States and a few nations which imitated American practice such as South Korea and the Philippines. Here are the rates for US regions over the past decade or so:
| Year | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
| Northeast | 69.6 | 68.3 | 66.5 | 68.3 | 68.0 | 65.4 | 64.6 | 66.9 | 68.9 | 64.7 | 66.4 |
| North Central | 80.1 | 79.8 | 80.9 | 81.6 | 82.9 | 81.4 | 81.4 | 81.0 | 81.0 | 77.8 | 79.5 |
| Southern | 64.7 | 66.1 | 63.6 | 64.5 | 64.6 | 64.1 | 63.9 | 62.5 | 64.0 | 57.7 | 58.5 |
| Western | 34.2 | 42.6 | 36.3 | 38.0 | 38.3 | 36.7 | 37.3 | 40.9 | 32.6 | 31.4 | 31.7 |
| All | 62.7 | 64.1 | 60.2 | 62.8 | 63.2 | 61.5 | 62.4 | 63.1 | 60.1 | 55.9 | 57.4 |
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Quite common in Israel too, I suspect.
These statistics on infant circumcisions are informative, but the truly relevant statistic would be what percentage of males are circumcised.
Well, I don't consider it an abomination unless practiced on newborn children. Adults can consent to and indulge in it all day long and I won't blink, but hacking away at unwitting children with such barbaric butchery should be outlawed.
but hacking away at unwitting children with such barbaric butchery should be outlawed.
what would your age of consent be?
How about the same age for any other discretionary plastic surgery: the age of legal adulthood, whatever that may be?
It would be interesting to contrast this with the statistics for the different female circumcisions. I would think that Africa would be precluded as a normative region vs males since children of both sexes are forced to participate. For different reasons, but in the same correlative culture.
It isn't often I take issue with gnxp posts formulations as they are regularly far above par, but in this case I fail to see the relevance (or rather humor, as the header implies) in referring to religion in a morally problematic practice. The subject is far too serious for such trivial mistakes or misguided attempts of levity IMO.
Sorry, commenting drunk does tend to make invalid conclusions. Of course anything is allowed at any time (when it's not personal)!
Um, let's see if I can return in kind... oh, I know, I'm not stumped by this issue! ;-)
The North Central region really stands out as circumcision-happy. That's where I was born, and for many years I thought everyone had it done in the hospital when they were born, except for Jews who had a ceremony for it. I don't see what the big deal is since it's apparently just a flap of skin.
Caledonian got it right: whatever the age of consent is for anything legally restricted to adults, like drinking or smoking or elective medical procedures or what have you. Since there's no medical reason for childhood circumcision, let men decide when they're old enough to fully comprehend the implications and cover the financial burden. Then and only then will we truly begin to understand the repercussions, for only then will we finally know precisely what is lost via this procedure (something as yet unknown since we have virtually no knowledge of active sexuality before and after, and what possible impact it's having on those who've never known how the body works and feels naturally).
^^ Quite common in Israel too, I suspect. ^^
3% of Israeli Jews do not circumcise.
>> I don't see what the big deal is since it's apparently just a flap of skin. <<
Flap doesn't describe it at all, but regardless, it's the MOST sensitive part of the penis, with over half the sensual nerve endings:
http://www.nocirc.org/touch-test/touchtest.php