Views on circumcision

The rite plays a major role in the Abrahamic faiths.{{Cite book |title=The Oxford Handbook of Ritual and Worship in the Hebrew Bible |date=September 16, 2020 |editor-last=Balentine |editor-first=Samuel |page=499 |chapter=Ritual Beyond History: The Transcending Power of Ritual and Community}} Mainstream forms of Judaism view the practice as an integral and central religious obligation that is one of the most important commandments for Jews,{{Cite book |last=Mark |first=Elizabeth |title=The Covenant of Circumcision: New Perspectives on an Ancient Jewish Rite |publisher=Brandeis University Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-58465-307-3 |page=141 |chapter=Frojmovic/Travelers to the Circumcision}} while differing schools of interpretation within Islam view it either as an obligation or recommended.{{Cite web |date=July 20, 1998 |title=Khitān: The Islamic Rite of Circumcision |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/khitan-Islam |access-date=July 29, 2022 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |language=en}}

Circumcision has also played a major role in Christian history and theology.{{Cite book |last1=Bolnick |first1=David |title=Surgical Guide to Circumcision |last2=Koyle |first2=Martin |last3=Yosha |first3=Assaf |publisher=Springer |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-4471-2858-8 |location=United Kingdom |pages=290–298 }} Covenant theology largely views the Christian sacrament of baptism as fulfilling the Israelite practice of circumcision, both being signs and seals of the covenant of grace.{{cite web |last1=Clark |first1=R. Scott |author-link=R. Scott Clark|title=Baptism and Circumcision According to Colossians 2:11–12 |url=https://heidelblog.net/2012/09/baptism-and-circumcision-according-to-colossians-211-12/ |publisher=The Heidelblog |access-date=December 24, 2020 |language=English |date=September 17, 2012}}{{cite book|last=Crowther|first=Jonathan |title=A Portraiture of Methodism|year=1815|language=en|page=224}} With the exception of the Coptics, Ethiopian Orthodox and Eritrean Orthodox where circumcision is an integral or established or requirement practice for members of these churches,{{Cite book|last= N. Stearns|first=Peter|title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0-19-517632-2|page=179}}{{cite book|title=Cultural Encyclopedia of the Body [2 volumes]|first=Victoria |last=Pitts-Taylor|year= 2008| isbn= 978-1-56720-691-3| page =394|publisher=ABC-CLIO}} the large majority of mainstream Christian denominations maintain a neutral position on it in with respect to medical or cultural reasons,{{Cite book|last=S. Ellwood|first=Robert|title=The Encyclopedia of World Religions|publisher=Infobase Publishing|year=2008|isbn=978-1-4381-1038-7|page=95}} although all of them honor the circumcision of Jesus and condemn the rite when it is viewed as a means or requirement towards an individual's justification.{{Cite book |last1=Adams |first1=Gregory |title=Surgical Guide to Circumcision |last2=Adams |first2=Kristina |date=July 25, 2012 |publisher=Springer London |isbn=978-1-4471-2858-8 |editor-last=Bolnick |editor-first=David |pages=290, 293–295 |chapter=Circumcision in the Early Christian Church: The Controversy That Shaped a Continent |editor-last2=Koyle |editor-first2=Martin |editor-last3=Yosha |editor-first3=Assaf}} According to Scholar Heather L. Armstrong of University of Southampton, many Christians have been circumcised for reasons such as family preferences, depending on Biblical interpretation by individuals, medical or cultural reasons.{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Sex and Sexuality: Understanding Biology, Psychology, and Culture [2 volumes]|first=Heather |last=L. Armstrong|year= 2021| isbn=978-1-61069-875-7| pages =115–117|publisher=ABC-CLIO}}

Samaritanism view the circumcision as an integral and central religious obligation that is one of the most important commandments for Samaritans.Timothy Michael Law, [https://books.google.com/books?id=YZoeAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA24 When God Spoke Greek: The Septuagint and the Making of the Christian Bible,] Oxford University Press, USA, 2013 p.24.{{Cite book |last=Mark |first=Elizabeth |title=The Covenant of Circumcision: New Perspectives on an Ancient Jewish Rite |publisher=University Press of New England |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-58465-307-3 |pages=94–95}} Circumcision is widely practiced by the Druze, the procedure is practiced as a cultural tradition,{{Cite book|last=Ubayd|first=Anis|title=The Druze and Their Faith in Tawhid|publisher=Syracuse University Press|year=2006|isbn=978-0-8156-3097-5|page=150}} and has no religious significance in the Druze faith.{{cite book|title=Israel and the Palestinian Territories: The Rough Guide| first=Daniel|last=Jacobs|year= 1998| isbn=978-1-85828-248-0| page =147|publisher=Rough Guides}}{{cite book|title=The History of Galilee, 1538–1949: Mysticism, Modernization, and War| first=M. |last=M. Silver|year= 2022| isbn= 978-1-7936-4943-0| page =97|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield}} Some Druses do not circumcise their male children, and refuse to observe what they see as a "common Muslim practice".{{cite book|title=The Sunni-Shi'a Divide: Islam's Internal Divisions and Their Global Consequences| first=Robert|last=Brenton Betts|year= 2013| isbn=978-1-61234-523-9| page =56|publisher=Potomac Books, Inc.}}

Brit mila.jpg|Preparing for a Jewish ritual circumcision

File:Coptic Children wearing traditional circumcision costumes.jpg|Coptic Christian Children wearing traditional circumcision costumes

File:Mengarak anak khitanan.jpg|Indonesian Muslim boy wearing traditional circumcision costume

Image:Preparing for a ritual circumcision to a Druze child.jpg|Preparing for a ritual circumcision to a Druze child

Indian religions, such as Hinduism and Sikhism, strongly prohibit the practice of routine circumcision. Hinduism discourages non-medical circumcision, as according to them, the body is made by the almighty God, and nobody has right to alter it without the concern of the person who is going for it.{{cite journal|last1=Clarence-Smith|first1=William G.|title=Islam and Female Genital Cutting in Southeast Asia: The Weight of the Past|journal=Finnish Journal of Ethnicity and Migration|volume=3|issue=2|date=2008|url=http://www.etmu.fi/fjem/pdf/FJEM_2_2008.pdf|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090306050235/http://www.etmu.fi/fjem/pdf/FJEM_2_2008.pdf|archive-date=2009-03-06}} Sikhism does not require the elective circumcision of its followers and strongly criticizes the practice,{{Cite book|last=Cherry|first=Mark|title=Religious Perspectives on Bioethics|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2013|isbn=978-90-265-1967-3|page=213}} and Sikh infants are not circumcised.{{cite web|url=http://www.kyha.com/documents/CG-Sikh.pdf |title=Guidelines for health Care Providers Interacting with Patients of the Sikh Religion and their Families |access-date=2007-05-01 |publisher=Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council |date=November 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070616011136/http://www.kyha.com/documents/CG-Sikh.pdf |archive-date=June 16, 2007 }} Buddhism appears to have a neutral view on circumcision.{{cite web|url=http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2007/9789241596169_eng.pdf|title=Male circumcision: Global trends and determinants of prevalence, safety and acceptability|author1=London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine|author2=WHO|author3=UNAIDS|date=2007|page=4}}

{{Main|Circumcision in Africa}}

File:Initiation ritual of boys in Malawi.jpg in Malawi participating in circumcision and initiation rites]]

Circumcision in Africa, and the rites of initiation in Africa, as well as "the frequent resemblance between details of ceremonial procedure in areas thousands of kilometres apart, indicate that the circumcision ritual has an old tradition behind it and in its present form is the result of a long process of development."{{cite book |last1=Wagner |first1=Günter |title=The Bantu of North Kavirondo: Volume 1 |date=1949 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-429-48581-7 |page=335 |chapter-url=https://dspace.gipe.ac.in/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10973/28219/GIPE-055362.pdf?sequence=3 |chapter=Circumcision And Initiation Rites |doi=10.4324/9780429485817 }} Circumcision is prevalent among 92% of men in North Africa and around 62% in Sub-Saharan Africa. In western and northern parts of Africa it is mainly performed for religious reasons, whereas in southern parts of Africa it rarely performed in neonates, instead being a rite of passage into manhood.{{cite journal |author=Taiwo Lawal |display-authors=etal|date=April 2017 |title=Circumcision and its effects in Africa |journal= Translational Andrology and Urology|volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=149–157 |doi= 10.21037/tau.2016.12.02|pmid=28540221|pmc=5422680 |doi-access=free }}

In some African and Eastern Christian denominations male circumcision is an integral or established practice, and require that their male members undergo circumcision.{{cite book|title=Cultural Encyclopedia of the Body [2 volumes]|first=Victoria |last=Pitts-Taylor|year= 2008| isbn= 978-1-56720-691-3| page =394|publisher=ABC-CLIO|quote=For most part, Christianity does not require circumcision of its followers. Yet, some Orthodox and African Christian groups do require circumcision. These circumcisions take place at any point between birth and puberty.}} Circumcision is near-universal among Coptic Christians, Ethiopian Orthodox and Eritrean Orthodox, and they practice circumcision as a rite of passage.

Certain African cultural groups, such as the Yoruba and the Igbo of Nigeria, customarily circumcise their infant sons. The procedure is also practiced by some cultural groups or individual family lines in Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and in southern Africa. For some of these groups, circumcision appears to be purely cultural, done with no particular religious significance or intention to distinguish members of a group. For others, circumcision might be done for purification, or it may be interpreted as a mark of subjugation. Among these groups, even when circumcision is done for reasons of tradition, it is often done in hospitals.{{cite encyclopedia |year=2005 |title=Circumcision |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Religion |edition=2 |publisher=Gale}}

In the Philippines, where four-fifths of Filipinos profess Roman Catholicism, circumcision is known as "tuli" and is generally viewed as a rite of passage. An overwhelming majority of Filipino men are circumcised.{{cite web|title=Tuli a rite of passage for Filipino boys|url=http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/219779/news/nation/tuli-a-rite-of-passage-for-filipino-boys|access-date=December 6, 2015|date=May 6, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208183045/http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/219779/news/nation/tuli-a-rite-of-passage-for-filipino-boys|archive-date=December 8, 2015}} According to the United Nations World Health Organisation:

In the Philippines, where circumcision is almost universal and typically occurs at age 10–14 years, a survey of boys found strong evidence of social determinants, with two thirds of boys choosing to be circumcised simply "to avoid being uncircumcised", and 41% stating that it was "part of the tradition"{{cite book|last1=Weiss|first1=H|title=Male circumcision – Global trends and determinants of prevalence, safety and acceptability|page=5|publisher=World Health Organization|year=2008|access-date=December 21, 2017|location=Geneva|url=http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/43749/1/9789241596169_eng.pdf}}

Circumcision is part of initiation rites in some Pacific Islander, and Aboriginal Australian traditions in areas such as Arnhem Land,{{cite web

| author = Aaron David Samuel Corn

| title = Ngukurr Crying: Male Youth in a Remote Indigenous Community

| version = Working Paper Series No. 2

| publisher = University of Wollongong

| year = 2001

| url = http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sealcp/wkgpapers/wp2.pdf

| access-date = October 18, 2006

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20040623130814/http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sealcp/wkgpapers/wp2.pdf |archive-date = 2004-06-23}}

where the practice was introduced by Makassan traders from Sulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago.{{cite web

|url = http://www.mfgsc.vic.edu.au/greenturtledreaming/EKmigrate.htm

|title = Migration and Trade

|access-date = October 18, 2006

|publisher = Green Turtle Dreaming

|quote = In exchange for turtles and trepang the Makassans introduced tobacco, the practice of circumcision and knowledge to build sea-going canoes.

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060819150742/http://www.mfgsc.vic.edu.au/greenturtledreaming/EKmigrate.htm

|archive-date = 2006-08-19

}} Some Australian Aborigines use circumcision as a test of bravery and self-control as a part of a rite of passage into manhood, which results in full societal and ceremonial membership. Circumcision ceremonies among certain Australian aboriginal societies are noted for their painful nature, including subincision for some aboriginal peoples in the Western Desert.{{cite journal

| last = Jones

| first = IH

|date=June 1969

| title = Subincision among Australian western desert Aborigines

| journal = British Journal of Medical Psychology

| volume = 42

| issue = 2

| pages = 183–190

| doi =10.1111/j.2044-8341.1969.tb02069.x

| pmid=5783777

| issn = 0007-1129

}}

In the Pacific, ritual circumcision is nearly universal in the Melanesian islands of Fiji and Vanuatu;{{cite web

|url = http://www.aids.net.au/aids-png-project-20060403.htm

|title = Recent Guest Speaker, March 15, Professor Roger Short

|access-date = July 1, 2006

|year = 2006

|publisher = Australian AIDS Fund Incorporated

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060820012843/http://www.aids.net.au/aids-png-project-20060403.htm

|archive-date = 2006-08-20

}} Circumcision is also commonly practised in the Polynesian islands of Samoa, Tonga, Niue, and Tikopia. In Samoa, it is accompanied by a celebration.

• Tuli

{{Circumcision series}}

Category:Circumcision

Category:Religious practices

Category:Rites of passage

Category:Sexuality and religion