Well that -is- the dilema here, isn't it?

Either "bad mouth" his or her religion.

I'm supporting her position. . . are you "bad mouthing' her religion then?

You tell me where I said anything bad about her possible religious bent. In fact - I took both sides having extensive experience with interfaith marriages. I don't see any need to bad mouth either side in this. It's simply a matter of what they decide to do with their son. It doesn't concern us except that he asked our opinion and experience.

Agree with Mike and do not feel that the comment was needed. This was not a discussion about religion nor its practices. It was asking for comments about a medical procedure and nothing else.

JoeA

Well; Joe - I appreciate the support but I think it is a religious issue. Medically there is no need for the circumcision.

He stated in the beginning that he was jewish and following his faith.

Ah .. perhaps your religious bent is clouding your vision.

Clearly you believe that Judaism is better than some other religious bent. . .no matter how stealthly chosen you believe your words to be.

"You have to decide if YOU can let this go or not."

"It's a sacrifice your boy is making in the name of his god "

The infant knows "his (Jewish) God" already?

Anyway, when you chose a position, contrary to anothers. ...

There's no stealth there - no matter how much you read into it that there is. I believe Judiasm is MY religion of choice and I do think it's better than some of the other choices out there. I'm quite open about that.

I never said anything about the infant knowing god at birth; he'll learn it from Blue and his wife however they decide to teach it. That's my position and I'm sticking to it.

I don't think I have anything else to say to you on the matter.

Island. You aren't being contrary, you're being inflammatory. My poll is designed purely for statistical discovery, with the initial post providing some insight as to why I'm asking this question.

FYI, I am a "non-practicing" Jew. For me Judaism is a heritage and a culture, not a religion. We're not even sure if our son will receive any Jewish education or bar mitzvah. Certainly I will educate him on the history of his people etc. However that will be balanced with learning about the Japanese culture as well.

That said, my wife is basically religion-free. Her stance is "I cannot stand by while someone hurts my baby." She admits the small statistical correlation of penile problems in the future due to lack of circumcision but her personal experience (i.e., her family) has not exhibited any of these. Of course now I suspect she will ask in case something happened that she is unaware of. ;)

Joe and Lee, thank you for your anecdotes. It definitely adds something to think about.

All I know is I never met a stupid Jew or a poor one! And any Jewish girl I ever dated was far better at the 'dirty thing' than any Catholic - and they didn't have the guilt. All-in-all, they may just be the chosen race! Where do I sign up?

Well, remember, the Muslims are into circumcision as well, so let's not make it a race/religion thing.

Dr Dean Edell is anti-circumcision and has lots of good info on his web site. http://healthcentral.com/search.aspx?q=circumcision&x=0&y=0&abc=

I've always found it more than a little puzzling that what's considered horrific and barbaric for a girl is done without a lot of thought to boys. Maybe the difference is that female circumcision is often done to 12-13 year-olds. It would sure be different if circumcision of boys was put off to that age.

I'm lutheran, as are both of my parents. Circumcision all the way baby! No religious bent here, but it looks better (IMO) and chicks dig it.

Welcome to fifteen posts ago.

Are there any stats out there on what percentage of males born each year in the US are circumcised? FWIW, the majority of my friends are circumcised, but it might be a generational thing. I'm 25.

Mike,

Agree but after what I went through I would probably lean towards having the operation done right after birth. Doing it later on in life was just no fun.

Am very religious (Christian) but do not talk about it much. Will support anyone's views and religion as long as its not going to hurt anyone else.

Agree with Aaron that the posts by Island are just trying to stir the brown material. Sorry but it was not needed, especially on a thread like this.

Joe A

My apologies, Blue.

Under representaion of contrary views, coupled with a few too many the crazy rationalizations, proved too tough to resist.

I'll stay out of this now; as I expect other here have. (read: those who have no guilt . . .no seeing their kid get strapped into a little "baby-form," screaming it's liitle lungs out, turning all kinds of nasty colors)

those dont really exist.

one thing i have noticed, compared to a buddy of mine thats unaltered, my q-tip box lasts alot longer.

No crying here...oh, you mean the kid. ;)

First one didn't cry, second one cried for a moment.

They certainly weren't screaming their lungs out or turning color.

They do that now though...but only when I beat them for no good reason. :p

My son had it done at 1 day old. He was not happy about it and wouldn't eat a lot that day. Next day he was fine. I felt bad about it then (because of the pain) be he and I are over it now and I sure don't give it much thought.

You guys that do it as adults, F--- THAT!!!

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

not sure I care to want to know how that bit of information was discovered!

This is definatly one thread that should not have ANY pics what so ever.

Joe, you and I are on the same page - My point was that if the boy will be raised jewish - waiting in the circumcision would be very painful for him.

Blue's made it clear how he plans to raise the kid and I think that's great. For a long time that is how I have viewed Judiasm myself. In fact, when my wife who was essentially religion free came to me about converting I was very hesititant because one of the reasons I picked her was because of the "religion-free" aspect to her. She's the one who truely wanted the circumcision done - she wanted him to look like me so that when he saw things he wasn't confused as to "why he was different."

We talked it over with a lot of friends (some japanese in fact) who have had them done and not done and the medical issues in this day and age simply aren't real big issues. They are few and far between and the risks of the procedure are probably about the same.

Mine cried a little but took it well enough and ate like a champ that entire day. The problem he had was that my wife tested positive for Group-B strepp so they had to keep us in there for 2 days and they kept trying to draw blood from him to test for infection. THAT got him going something aweful. Even the Dr. that was trying to get the blood teared up a bit.

IF we're done talking about wankers now can we talk about boobs?