Freethought & Rationalism Archive

rfwu · 08-11-2003, 12:02 AM

Not sure where this thread is supposed to go, so I just posted it here. Isn't it weird that the OT God demands circumcision to show a person's alleigience to him? It's kinda sick and pointless, because the Egyptians performed circumcision too! I read somewhere that people use circumcision as a way to prevent masturbation, and uses all kinds of excuses, from religious to exaggerated medical reasons. How many people in this forum is circumcised anyway? I'll post a poll or something. Never posted a poll before. Well, here goes.

BTW, I'm not circumcised!

winstonjen · 08-11-2003, 12:12 AM

The requirement for circumscision shows that YHWH was too incompetent to simply create people without foreskins, or otherwise to require a non-mutilating sign of faith.

RRoman · 08-11-2003, 12:24 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by rfwu
I read somewhere that people use circumcision as a way to prevent masturbation, and uses all kinds of excuses, from religious to exaggerated medical reasons.

I did a research project on circumcision last year, and from what I gather, circumcision first appeared in hunter/gatherer cultures as a kind of initiation/puberty rite. In the western world it was largely seen as barbaric, until Victorian Times, where it was used to stop kids from masturbating. Once moral interests declined, some people made up medical reasons to continue it.

"In all cases in which male children are suffering nerve tension, confirmed derangement of the digestive organs, restlessness, irritability, and other disturbances of the nervous system, even to chorea, convulsions, and paralysis, or where through nerve waste the nutritive facilities of the general system are below par and structural diseases are occurring, circumcision should be considered as among the lines of treatment to be pursued."

Charles E. Fisher, Circumcision, in A Hand-Book On the Diseases of Children and Their Homeopathic Treatment.. Chicago: Medical Century Co., 1895. p.875.

"I have repeatedly seen such cases as convulsions, contstant crying in infants, simulated hip joint diseases, backwardness in studies, enuresis, marasmus, muscular incoordination, paralysis, masturbation, neurasthenia, and even epilepsy, cured or greatly benefited by the proper performance of circumcision."

W.G.Steele, MD. "Importance of Circumcision." Medical World,Vol. 20 (1902): pp.518-519

mongrel · 08-11-2003, 01:08 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by rfwu
I read somewhere that people use circumcision as a way to prevent masturbation...

Heh, heh. I'm here to tell ya- it doesn't work...

RRoman · 08-11-2003, 01:14 AM

Yeah, okay, it failed on masturbation. But hey you don't have epilepsy, do you?

Chicken Girl · 08-11-2003, 01:27 AM

Not circumsized!

mongrel · 08-11-2003, 03:54 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by RRoman
Yeah, okay, it failed on masturbation. But hey you don't have epilepsy, do you?

Hey, you're right- how could I have not seen it all this time!?! There must be a god, afterall! Praise be!

Secular Pinoy · 08-11-2003, 04:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by rfwu
Not sure where this thread is supposed to go, so I just posted it here.

This probably fits better at ~E~ but we'll wait and see if the mods thinks so too. BTW, I got circumcised at around 8 yrs old, I think. I posted an account of my circumcision at the Freethinkers Forum.

nogods4me · 08-11-2003, 04:34 AM

Well I see the results are nip and tuck.

The Cromwell Institute · 08-11-2003, 05:07 AM

I'm not circumcised, but I am told my mother had to fight tooth and nail against pressure from almost every relative and in-law she had in order to keep my foreskin attached. Everyone else [including my father] wanted me circumcised, Darwin only knows why.

When I was about 10 my father even asked me if I wanted to be circumcised. It was one of the weirdest conversations I've ever had with him.

08-11-2003, 12:02 AM	#1
rfwu Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Sunny California Posts: 1,336	Circumcision! Not sure where this thread is supposed to go, so I just posted it here. Isn't it weird that the OT God demands circumcision to show a person's alleigience to him? It's kinda sick and pointless, because the Egyptians performed circumcision too! I read somewhere that people use circumcision as a way to prevent masturbation, and uses all kinds of excuses, from religious to exaggerated medical reasons. How many people in this forum is circumcised anyway? I'll post a poll or something. Never posted a poll before. Well, here goes. BTW, I'm not circumcised!

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08-11-2003, 12:12 AM	#2
winstonjen Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 3,425	The requirement for circumscision shows that YHWH was too incompetent to simply create people without foreskins, or otherwise to require a non-mutilating sign of faith.

08-11-2003, 01:14 AM	#5
RRoman Regular Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Durham, UK / Frankfurt, Germany Posts: 345	Yeah, okay, it failed on masturbation. But hey you don't have epilepsy, do you?

08-11-2003, 01:27 AM	#6
Chicken Girl Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: nowhere Posts: 6,549	Not circumsized!

08-11-2003, 04:34 AM	#9
nogods4me Contributor Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Baltimore, MD USA Posts: 17,432	Well I see the results are nip and tuck.

08-11-2003, 05:07 AM	#10
The Cromwell Institute Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Australia Posts: 766	I'm not circumcised, but I am told my mother had to fight tooth and nail against pressure from almost every relative and in-law she had in order to keep my foreskin attached. Everyone else [including my father] wanted me circumcised, Darwin only knows why. When I was about 10 my father even asked me if I wanted to be circumcised. It was one of the weirdest conversations I've ever had with him.

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