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Reader comment on:
Oregon Legal Battle Ignites Debate on Circumcision
in response to reader comment: No State Interference With Religion

Submitted by Child Protector, Sep 25, 2007 10:02

Ubu Walker asserts: "In order for the boy to celebrate his Bar Mitzvah on his 13th birthday...and in order for the boy to convert to Judaism...the boy has to be circumcised." This is false. There are many Rabbis who will welcome the boy into the Jewish faith without inspecting his penis or caring whether it is whole or partial. Walker: "If the State forbids the father (who has both legal and physical custody of the child) from allowing his son to be circumcised, than the child can not become Jewish." Wrong. False. "There are no if, ands, or buts about this...not allowing the circumcision is State interference with religion." The state interferes with religious PRACTICE all the time. It is only religious BELIEF that has absolute constitutional protection. Religious PRACTICE, especially when it involves the human rights of others, is subject to the tests of lawfulness. Chopping up and amputating healthy body parts including their sex organs from healthy children and other nonconsenting parties' (children cannot consent, legally) is unlawful. The crime is called "mayhem". It is a felony. "Not allowing the circumcision is anti-semitic ..." No, circumcising is anti-Semitic. Circumcising them always harms and sometimes kills babies, Jewish ones too, and anything that always harms and sometimes kills Jewish babies is anti-Semitic. NOT circumcising is pro-Semitic and pro-human. "... and is merely the modern equivilent to ancient laws passed by Muslim and Christian rulers forbidding people to convert to Judaism on pain of apostasy and heresy, which were both punishable by death." No one is forbidding the boy to convert to Judaism. What is likely to be forbidden is for this abusive father to unnecessarily mutilate his son's perfectly healthy, perfectly normal penis. "If circumcision is prohibited by the court, what is next? Not being allowed to dunk your child underwater because it is cruel?" Dunking underwater, provided it is followed soon after by pulling up out of the water so the child can breathe again, draws no blood, amputates no healthy body parts, and causes no harm to a child old enough to know what is happening, or even to those too young to know, even to infants. Infants are taught to swim by dunking them underwater. But if the dunking prohibition were necessary to save children from unnecessary sexual amputations (it is not) I, for one, would accept it. "Not allowing children to drink wine while taking the Eucharist ?" Same as above. Christian children can wait until they're 18 to drink the wine if necessary to save Jewish children from permament genital harm and immediate risk of death. Believe anything you like, but keep your hands and clamps and knives off of children's healthy sex organs, girls' AND BOYS' AND INTERSEXED. Equal protection of the law doesn't stop at the sex organs of children.

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.

Other reader comments on this article

Comment By Date

For me forced circumcision is just an abhorrent business. 10 minutes for 180 ?$! Its an massive sexual manipulation. Based... [MORE]

Peter

Oct 8, 2007 14:23

This battle is not about religion, freedom of religion, the right to follow certain religious practices.....it is the father's desire... [MORE]

silver

Oct 3, 2007 02:01

Circumcision is an irreversible operation. The boy is twelve years old. Wait until he is eighteen and has the chance... [MORE]

Stephen

Sep 19, 2007 20:46

The courts should be wary of any allegation made by James Boldt, the man who wants to have his son... [MORE]

Michael Glass

Sep 19, 2007 19:28

Just to clarify, FGM or Female Genital Mutilation, including Female Circumcision, has been banned by a federal law for 10... [MORE]

Jay

Sep 19, 2007 11:35

In the Middle Ages Jews were said to kidnap Christian children, circumcise them, and even sacrifce them, drinking their blood.... [MORE]

John Geisheker

Sep 19, 2007 11:06

Somehow I'm not suprised that the executive director of Doctors Opposing Circumcision will make such an Anti-Semitic comment to this... [MORE]

Eileen

Sep 25, 2007 10:46

"What he's saying, in other words, is that now anti-Semitism can be justified because Jews seem to be acting in... [MORE]

Hugh

Oct 7, 2007 02:21

The commonsense solution to this legal wrangle is to wait till the boy is 18. Then the boy can decide... [MORE]

Michael Glass

Sep 19, 2007 10:10

"Surely a parent has the same authority to have a child's vision corrected or a birthmark on his face removed... [MORE]

Laura MacDonald

Sep 19, 2007 09:19

Americans are insane with their obsession of cutting the genitals of children! [MORE]

johndoe

Sep 19, 2007 01:13

The amici are misguided in representing circumcision as a medical decision. There are very few legitimate medical reasons to circumcise.... [MORE]

Ron Low

Sep 19, 2007 00:38

male circumcision should not be permitted on constitutional grounds because many states have passed laws banning female genital mutilation The only... [MORE]

Dan

Sep 19, 2007 00:37

It is fundamentally horrifying to remove sexual tissue from a nonconsenting female unless absolutely medically necessary. This would be the... [MORE]

Spacediver

Sep 18, 2007 22:48

If this was a daughter being considered for a religous circumcision, there is no doubt that it would be struck... [MORE]

Dan

Sep 18, 2007 22:39

A child should have a right to an intact body. Circumcision is barbaric, and religion is organized ignorance. [MORE]

Barrry

Sep 18, 2007 21:57

Seriously, just wait til he's 18. [MORE]

Aaron

Sep 18, 2007 19:16

In 2006, Judge Jordan Kaplan (Cook County, IL) ruled that the mother of an 8 year old boy could not... [MORE]

Dan

Sep 18, 2007 18:17

'Though studies have shown less incidence of sexually transmitted disease in circumcised men, Mr. Geisheker contends that circumcision is "non-therapeutic."'... [MORE]

Hugh Young

Sep 18, 2007 17:26

There primary issue here should be, what does this boy really want? Doesn't this boy need his own lawyer to represent... [MORE]

Butrg

Sep 18, 2007 14:02

This should not be up to the father. If the son wants this, he hsould wait until he is 18.... [MORE]

Jackie

Sep 18, 2007 09:28

And, er, "Jackie", you DO have a basis to comment on this? As the proud owner of a penis, I find... [MORE]

jvon

Sep 18, 2007 17:10

If the son wants it done, then let him have it done. Waiting till 18 does nothing for him. It... [MORE]

Joe

Sep 18, 2007 21:54

"You don't mention smegma. Its smells, and is always given off by the foreskin. I for one would not want... [MORE]

Tom

Sep 20, 2007 11:58

jvon: "As the proud owner of a penis, I find it highly unlikely that the foreskin is more sensitive than... [MORE]

Hugh

Oct 7, 2007 03:39

There are a lot of allegations flying around about this case and the court needs to find the truth in... [MORE]

O'Hara

Sep 18, 2007 08:25

Sir : I support the Jews and Israel in their fight for survival. Circumcision, male and female, appear to produce the same... [MORE]

Douglas Wagner

Sep 18, 2007 07:07

This child should be spared this 'ritual' based on the fact that IF done in a hospital setting, it will... [MORE]

Laurie

Sep 18, 2007 06:59

This, without a doubt, represents serious child abuse as practiced by our so-called intelligent culture. When will we discontinue the... [MORE]

Anthony D'Auria

Sep 18, 2007 12:27

In order for the boy to celebrate his Bar Mitzvah on his 13th birthday...and in order for the boy to... [MORE]

Ubu Walker

Sep 18, 2007 19:19

If as the Jewish community usually does this would have been done after 7 days, This boy is 12!! Leave... [MORE]

Bob

Sep 19, 2007 04:27

For 10 years now it has been illegal to circumcise little girls in this country, even if the parents are... [MORE]

Dan

Sep 19, 2007 10:20

Firstly, the government will only interfere with religious choices if there is no less harmful alternative means to effectuate important... [MORE]

Ubu Walker

Sep 19, 2007 14:24

Ubu Walker asserts: "In order for the boy to celebrate his Bar Mitzvah on his 13th birthday...and in order for the...

Child Protector

Sep 25, 2007 10:02

>There are many Rabbis who will welcome the boy into the Jewish faith... Firstly, all Conservative and Orthodox rabbis,... [MORE]

Ubu Walker

Sep 25, 2007 13:36

"Your freedom to swing your fist ends where my nose begins." Substitute "knife" and "genitals". Children need freedom of religion... [MORE]

Hugh

Oct 7, 2007 03:51

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