Hmm, well I am a father of two sons... and a jew by birth, so I have a perspective that I have not heard aired here. As much as I feel that this is a decision that must be made by the parents for personal reasons, I will explain my feelings on the matter. My topic here is male circumcision, I dont know enough about female circumcision to comment on that. It seems barbaric to me, but that is my perspective and the world is a barbaric place for the most part.
First I will say that I don't really understand why someone of non-Jewish descent first decided to undergo circumcision. Clearly that is part of the old-covenant. I am not attempting to comment on that.
Those who have seen my posts in this forum know that I am agnostic, but do have a personal relationship with the greater reality in which we dwell. That is to say that I do not think that the Bible is the word of God, but that I do feel that spirituality is an essential part of humanity and I am not one to deny my humanity.
So, why did I have my children circumcised? Cultural reasons, and spiritual ones. The greatest thing that I gained by my Jewish heritage was a feeling of connection with my ancestors. Some understanding of what my ancestors lives were like and who they were. I felt that I was part of a tribe, I still feel that way - though my understanding of genetics now makes that feeling a bit tempered. Being part of that tribe means being circumcised... and undergoing a bar-mitzva... and fasting while undergoing introspection about ones life once a year.
I think that rituals of this sort are important for humans, in some ways I wish that there were more rituals in current society, but there are not. If my tribe had a ritual in which I was expected to be branded at the age of 13, or spend time in the woods until I had a vision, or partaking in psychedelics, I would gladly take part. I wish that people would simply dance around a fire as a group, in recognition of our shared reality I think we would love and accept each other more if we did.
My male ancestors have been circumcised for at least the last 5 generations, I have no records beyond that but it is more than likely that the tradition goes back in my male line ten times that number. I am proud to be part of that, and to have my sons be part of that as well. We share a Y chromosome, and we share circumcision. The word briss has not even been mentioned here, those who are interested can google it.
Finally, when my sons compare their naked bodies to mine, I want them to see the same thing.
As far as the medical part, and the accusations of torture, and the consent issue.
There is no pressing medical reason for circumcision, and there is no reason not to have one. If there had been any medical reason to forgo circumcision I would have. I read all I could about it, from both sides of the issue, I could not find one.
I held both my sons while they were circumcised and can tell you that it is not torture, not even especially painful. A bit shocking is how I would describe it. I cried more than my children. Birth its self seemed much more painful, the warm safety of the womb traded for the shocking cold reality of the external world. Not to mention for my wife, especially the second time when she did not have any anesthesia due to the quickness of the birth. If God designed human childbirth than I can easily believe that it was designed as a punishment
as is implied in Genesis.
It may in fact be that there are psychological impacts of circumcision, on both the child and the parents, but IMO these are as likely to be beneficial as they are to be harmful. In any case it is hard, or even impossible, to make the case that circumcision produces emotional cripples, or whatever else detractors may claim.
Now consent is an interesting argument, as it gets to the question of free will. For my part I do not believe in true free will, at best we make limited decisions that are strongly influenced by the events and circumstances of our lives. Just deciding to bring a child into the world, and specifically into the world in which you live, is not discussed with the child. The way you raise children, the food they eat, the language they learn, their economic, sociological, and educational realities. None, of these are put to the infant for discussion. Free will is a myth and consent as a newborn is a fairytale. So for me consent was a non-issue, YMMV.
. But it was the US, more puritan than most, which embraced circumcision.
