European opponents of circumcision have been able to frame the debate over banning a ritual integral to Jewish identity as one where medical and humanitarian concerns should override the right of religious believers. Their recent successes in getting a court in Cologne, Germany to rule that circumcision is illegal, the potential prosecution of a rabbi in Bavaria for performing a brit milah, and the fact that several European hospitals have now banned the procedure are all based on the idea that “enlightened” Europeans must halt a practice they have branded as unhealthy, if not primitive. But a stinging rejoinder to that claim has just been issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
As the New York Times reported today, the Academy announced in an article in Pediatrics, “new research, including studies in Africa suggesting that the procedure may protect heterosexual men against H.I.V., indicated that the health benefits outweighed the risks.” This gives the lie to those opponents who have tried to depict circumcision as a danger to male infants who must be protected from the desire of their parents to practice their faith. The ruling is a switch from a 1999 ruling that had taken a neutral stance on the issue. This helps clarify the debate being promoted by opponents of circumcision. Once the medical argument is taken away from them they are left with only two possible motivations: The dubious assertion that no parent ought to have the right to make the decision to carry out such a procedure on an infant, and anti-Semitism.
It should be specified that neither Jews nor Muslims, who also practice circumcision, do so for health reasons. Both treat the circumcision of males as a positive religious commandment and not one of either health or hygiene. But where opponents have been able to brand the procedure as either dangerous or without medical benefits has undermined support for the procedure even though the question is one of religious freedom.
Last week in Germany, an ethics committee sought to overrule the Cologne court but the country’s Professional Association of Pediatricians called the reversal “a scandal.” Given the evidence of the benefits of circumcision, it’s difficult to understand the willingness of German doctors to join the chorus of those seeking to ban the practice without thinking about the history of anti-Semitism in the country.
One of the authors of the American Pediatricians study, Dr. Douglas S. Diekema, told the Times that he wasn’t in favor of pushing anyone to circumcise their child but thought they ought to be given a “choice.” That’s exactly what the Germans pushing to ban circumcision want to deny parents. Such a position is only explicable in the context of what the U.S. State Department has rightly called “a rising tide of anti-Semitism” throughout Europe.
The country that is directly associated with history's most ghastly episode, the Holocaust, picks an argument with Jews over one of the latter's most basic rituals and beliefs is mind-bobbling. Is there something in their DNA?
Based on your logic, the US should never speak out against genocide (see Native Americans)…or slavery…or racial discrimination…the list goes on.
If the word genocide has real meaning, it does not apply to the red tribes and white tribes that clashed ferociously in the American wilderness. And yes, having fought a bloody war to end slavery, the US has every right to denounce slavery today. And the history of Jim Crow and world-wide racism, which the US took the lead to combat, certainly does not muzzles her now on that score. n nBut Germany and Austria attempted, with considerable success, the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Jewish people. That constituted a nation wide effort, the govt taking the lead, the public nourished by millennia of anti-Semitism enthusiastically in support. The end to the Holocaust was not the result of a German change of heart, but by outside insistence, even as the Germans and Austrians insisted on feeding the ovens to the very end. n nFor Germany to now strut forward in a humanitarian guise, let alone om the cherubic voice of pediatricians, against an ancient and benign Jewish ritual, tells us that a significant part of Germany is ready to forget its guilt and crimes and start anew. And the Greg Hartleys are glad.
Did the US set up factories for their extermination and trains to get them there on time?r nDid the US call in engineers to design a system of extermination?
If was never about health. Not for one minute. It was about faddish self appointed progressives who seek to stamp out everything that ever was, from 3000 or 30 years ago.
Very true, your Imperial Majesty. But those who are opposed to every vestige of morality like to point at the supposed health detriments and deny the health benefits, to argue that this is a religious practice that needs to be curtailed for the public good. Those who cannot stand the truth are forced to push lies.
By the way, the form of address is meant only as a gesture of the respect due an empress.
Muslims must really be confused about this. They, that is their leaders and religious fanatic preachers, hate Jews. However, this is one anti-Semitic bandwagon they cannot just jump on. I've watched films where a confused robot explodes when it is given contradictory orders. Let's hope.
If it were only caused by their leaders and fanatical preachers (mullahs), Muslim anti-Semitism would be slightly less troubling. But one must face the reality that Islamic anti-Semitism has a huge popular base, otherwise Jews wouldn't be regularly beheaded in Muslim countries, millions wouldn't be glued to the anti-Semitic dramas that saturate Egyptian television, and Egyptian dictators like Mubarak wouldn't have felt constrained to feed the anti-Semitic beast. Much as pre-war, popular European anti-Semitism especially in eastern Europe conditioned the behavior of European elites, often Islamic elites are also impelled by popular Islamic anti-Semitism. It is long past time to reject those simplistic theories holding that the masses are largely innocent, but useful tools wielded by their conniving and evil leaders.
In this German case the judge’s ruling was aimed at the widely known Jewish practice.
He is obviously unaware of the Muslim issue which will cause riots in the streets the minute one of their community is charged under the law as a Rabbi recently was.
I'm fairly certain this was determined many years ago.
It was. but the 'scientific' modern pagans like to say that the earlier research was a put-up job by Jew (excuse me, Jewish) doctors and their dupes. That's why it needs to be reestablished from time to time.
It is genital mutilation and child abuse Mr Tobin. If an adult male wants to get it done TO HIMSELF for religious reasons that is his right. To do this to a child however should be a criminal offense.
really? you are just being silly, The kids get over it.
Not 'silly', but a moronic anti-Semitic bast-rd.
I'm assuming that cutting the umbilical cord would fall into the same category? The same with c-section deliveries also..
"To do this to a child however should be a criminal offense. " nAs it indeed was under the rule of the Greeks, the Soviets and others. Under the Greek pagans and other pagan regimes, it was not only a criminal offense but a capital offense. n nThey are gone and b'chasdei Hashem (thru G-d's kindness) we are still here, in large part because our ancestors had the courage to defy those laws. n nBut the modern day pagans spring up in every generation, calling good evil and evil good. Aren't you proud to be one of them?
The majority of Christian boys in America are circumcised, so the practice has widespread support among non-Jews.
You are correct, and those Christian enlisted men that I knew many years ago in the service who chose circumcision were only unhappy that they didn't have it done as infants where the difficulties would have been minimum and long forgotten. But it is not wide spread among the anti-Semites that abound around us – excepting, of course, the Muslim anti-Semites.
> only two possible motivations: n> The dubious assertion that no parent ought to have the right to make the decision to n> carry out such a procedure on an infant, and anti-Semitism. n n(Rolling my eyes…) nThis is of course about INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS, first and foremost. If observant Muslims and Jews want to circumcise themselves (or mutilate their genitals, if they are Muslim women from sub-Saharan Africa), they may do so as soon as they turn 18. Over here in Europe, we believe the consent of the individual and the rights of children matter more than "religious freedom." n— nHeck, if Muslims believed ritualistic killing of children (and not just animals) was an integral part of their faith, it would still be incompatible with the Western concept of individual rights. Male or female circumcision is little different in this regard … religious adults can do whatever their want with their bodies but NOT to their children.
Your anti-Semitic self righteous stupidity glares brightly through this fog of ignorance that pervades Europe.
As a circumcised gentile American who knows very few men who aren't circumcised, I question the Anti-Semitism angle (at least in the US). My experience is that the people who are opposed to circumcision are the same people who advocate Gay Marriage and other sexually liberal causes – It's not about Jew Hating, it's about traditional sexual roles and behavior hating. Of course outside of the US circumcision is much more religious in nature and so could be more Anti-semitic. And Germany doing this, well, let's just say that given their history they are a bunch of dumbkopfs to remind people of what they want them to forget. n nI'm also glad that I won't get HIV.
A very evil man (may his name be erased) wrote that the Jews inflicted two great wounds on mankind – circumcision on its body, and conscience on its soul. n nFrom what I can tell, people who on principle oppose one often oppose both.
I wonder how many German parents opt to have the ears of their young daughters pierced? nThis procedure is done for neither medical nor religious reasons. It is performed strictly for cosmetic or fashion reasons. How come there is no outcry from the German Judicial or Medical Establishment to outlaw this "assault" on the body of a minor to satisfy the wishes of the parent? nShouldn't ear-piercing and other "physical attacks" on minors be postponed until the the child reaches the age of majority and can give informed, personal consent?
” It should be specified that neither Jews nor Muslims, who also practice circumcision, do so for health reasons. Both treat the circumcision of males as a positive religious commandment and not one of either health or hygiene. “r nr nHow do we know this, given the possibility that thousands of years ago the order may have been couched in religious terms to persuade the public to comply?r nStrangely enough the religious commands about dietary habits also have health and hygiene at heart, but do not explain the reasons for their existence.r nr nThe framers of the Constitution gave reasons for the wording otherwise many could also refer to the “commandments” as something purely religious! Assuming of course that the reader is capable of reading and critical analysis.
"How do we know this, given the possibility that thousands of years ago the order may have been couched in religious terms to persuade the public to comply?" nYou've been reading Chariots of the Gods a few times too many. n n
The deliberate decision of the Europeans NOT to pay attention to scientific data clearly indicates that antisemitism was their primary and unique motivation and not health. nAntisemitism is a FUNDAMENTAL core value (genetically embedded) in their psyche. nIf the Jews practiced circ for religious reason, we need to remember that "G-D" knows "a lot more" and obviously he knew what he was doing; we just took several centuries to discover the benefit of the procedure.