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Circumcision: Practices
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The Roman Catholic Church condemned circumcision for its members at the Council of Florence of 1442 [15][8]. This was in response to Coptic Christians, who practice circumcision. Fr. John J. Dietzen, a retired priest and columnist, reports based on the Catholic Catechism paragraph #2297 (respect for bodily integrity) that circumcision is immoral if it can be defined as an amputation or mutilation [9].
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This failure of theory to deliver in practice raises numerous questions about the alleged benefit of circumcision to reduce HIV infection. If suppression of HCV doesn't reduce HIV infection, maybe HCV infection isn't the cause of the higher HIV rates. Could it be that HCV infected individuals are ... behaving in ways that expose them to HIV rather than the HCV infection being a vector for the infection?
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[C]ircumcision was not merely a physical and external practice. It symbolized something internal. God described idolatry and disobedience as a result of an uncircumcised heart (Leviticus 26:41); he described repentance as a circumcision of the heart (Deuteronomy 10:16; 30:6). Of course, this spiritual meaning did not eliminate the need for the physical practice; the Israelites were to obey both the letter of the law and its symbolic meaning.
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Today, many Anthropologists disagree on the origins of circumcision. Some, such as English Egyptologist Sir Elliot Smith, believing that circumcision originated in the 'Heliolithic' culture over 15,000 years ago and was adopted by other cultures, while others believe that circumcision developed independently within separate cultures. Although the origins of circumcision are uncertain, it is documented that circumcision has been practiced in areas throughout Africa, in the Near East, by Australian Aborigines, and by Muslims in South-East Asia.
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The Rabbis ... took action to ensure that the practice of circumcision did not die out. In order to prevent the obliteration of the "seal of the covenant" on the flesh, as circumcision was henceforth called, the Rabbis, probably after Bar Kokhba's revolt, instituted the "peri'ah" (the laying bare of the glans), without which circumcision was declared to be of no value (Shab. xxx. 6).
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The Israelites apparently faithfully continued the practice of circumcision. Even in the lawless period of the judges, the Israelites were distinguished from others by the fact that they were circumcised (Judges 14:3; 15:18; 1 Samuel 14:6; 17:26, 36; 31:4; 2 Samuel 1:20; 1 Chronicles 10:4).
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