Religion and circumcision
Religious circumcision is generally performed shortly after birth, during childhood, or around puberty as part of a rite of passage. Circumcision for religious reasons is most frequently practiced in Judaism and Islam. In some African and Eastern Christian denominations male circumcision is an established practice, and require that their male members undergo circumcision.
Abrahamic religions
Rastafari
beliefs on circumcision are often rooted in the Old testament ideas of one's body as a temple. Unnecessarily removing part of your body is seen damaging and in conflict with living naturally.Judaism
Alternative practice
is an alternative naming ceremony that does not involve circumcision.Christianity
Ancient church
Modern Christianity
Circumcision is considered a customary practice among Oriental Christian denominations such as the Coptic, Ethiopian, and Eritrean Orthodox churches. The practice is near-universal in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Some Christian churches in South Africa oppose circumcision, viewing it as a pagan ritual, while others, including the Nomiya church in Kenya, require circumcision. It is common in Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ghana, Liberia, and Nigeria. Circumcision is widely practiced among Christian communities in the Anglosphere, Oceania, South Korea, the Philippines, and the Middle East. Circumcision is rare in Europe, East Asia, as well as in India. Christians in the East and West Indies do not practice it. Circumcision is also widely practiced among Christian communities in Philippines, South Korea, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Israel, and North Africa.The Lutheran Church and the Greek Orthodox Church celebrate the Circumcision of Christ on 1 January, while Orthodox churches following the Julian calendar celebrate it on 14 January. All Orthodox churches consider it a "Great Feast". In much of Western Christianity, the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ has been replaced by other commemorations, such as the Solemnity of Mary in the Roman Catholic Church or the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus in the Lutheran Churches. Exceptions, such as among most Traditionalist Catholics, who reject Novus Ordo and other changes following Vatican II to varying degrees, maintained the feast as a Holy day of obligation.
According to Scholar Heather L. Armstrong of University of Southampton, about half of Christian males worldwide are circumcised, with most of them being located in Africa, Anglosphere countries and the Philippines. Many Christians have been circumcised for reasons such as family preferences, medical or cultural reasons. Circumcision is also part of a traditional practice among the adherents of certain Oriental Christian denominations, including those of Coptic Christianity, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and Eritrean Orthodox Church.
Roman Catholic Church
The Roman Catholic Church denounced religious circumcision for its members in the Cantate Domino, written during the 11th Council of Florence in 1442, warning of loss of salvation for converts who observe it. This decision was based on the belief that baptism had superseded circumcision, and may also have been a response to Coptic Christians, who continued to practice circumcision.Origen stated in his work Contra Celsum that circumcision "was discontinued by Jesus, who desired that His disciples should not practise it."
Pope Pius XII taught that circumcision is only §" permissible if, in accordance with therapeutic principles, it prevents a disease that cannot be countered in any other way."
On another occasion, he stated:
The Church has been viewed as maintaining a neutral position on the practice of cultural circumcision, due to its policy of inculturation, although some Catholic scholars argue that the church condemns it as "elective male infant circumcision not only violates the proper application of the time-honored principle of totality, but even fits the ethical definition of mutilation, which is gravely sinful."
Fr. John J. Dietzen, a priest and columnist, argued that makes the practice of elective and neonatal circumcision immoral. John Paul Slosar and Daniel O'Brien, counter that the therapeutic benefits of neonatal circumcision are inconclusive, but that recent findings that circumcision may prevent disease puts the practice outside the realm of paragraph 2297. They claim that the "Respect for bodily integrity" paragraph apply in the context of kidnapping, hostage-taking or torture, and that if circumcision is included, any removal of tissue or follicle could be considered a violation of moral law. The proportionality of harm versus benefit of medical procedures, as defined by Directives 29 and 33 of the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, have been interpreted to support and reject circumcision. These arguments represent the conscience of the individual writers, and not official doctrine. The most recent statement from the Church was that of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI:
The Church of Antioch sent Barnabas on a mission with Paul, which became known as the Apostle's first missionary journey... Together with Paul, he then went to the so-called Council of Jerusalem where after a profound examination of the question, the Apostles with the Elders decided to discontinue the practice of circumcision so that it was no longer a feature of the Christian identity. It was only in this way that, in the end, they officially made possible the Church of the Gentiles, a Church without circumcision; we are children of Abraham simply through faith in Christ.
Latter Day Saints
Passages from scriptures connected with the Latter Day Saint movement explain that the "law of circumcision is done away" by Christ and thus unnecessary.Druze
Circumcision is widely practiced by the Druze: practiced as a cultural tradition, and has no religious significance. No special interval is specified: Druze infants are usually circumcised shortly after birth, however some remain uncircumcised until age ten or older. Some Druses do not circumcise their male children, and refuse to observe this "common Muslim practice".Islam
The origin of circumcision in Islam is a matter of religious and scholarly debate. It is mentioned in some hadith and the sunnah, but not in the Quran, though some believe it is implied by the command to "follow the way of Ibrahim, the true in Faith". In the time of Muhammad, circumcision was carried out by Pagan Arabian tribes, and by the Jewish tribes of Arabia for religious reasons. This was attested by al-Jahiz and by Jewish historian Flavius Josephus.The four schools of Islamic jurisprudence have different views towards circumcision. Some state that it is recommendable, others that it is permissible but not binding, while others regard it as a legal obligation. According to Shafi'i and Hanbali jurists male circumcision is obligatory for Muslims, while Hanafi jurists consider circumcision to be recommendable. Some Salafis have argued that circumcision is required in Islam to provide ritual cleanliness based on the covenant with Abraham.
Whereas Jewish circumcision is closely bound by ritual timing and tradition, Islam states no fixed age for circumcision. In Muslim communities, children are often circumcised in late childhood or early adolescence. It varies by family, region, and country. The age when boys get circumcised, and the procedures used, tend to change across cultures, families, and time. In some Muslim-majority countries, circumcision is performed after boys have learned to recite the Quran from start to finish. In Malaysia and other regions, the boy usually undergoes the operation between the ages of ten and twelve, and is thus a puberty rite, serving to introduce him in the adult world. The procedure is sometimes semi-public, accompanied with music, special foods, and much festivity.
Islam has no equivalent of a Jewish mohel. Circumcisions are usually carried out in health facilities or hospitals, and performed by trained medical practitioners. The circumciser can be either male or female, and is not required to be a Muslim, and circumcision is not required of converts to Islam.
Bahai Faith
Circumcision is not a religious practice of the Bahá'í Faith, and leaves that decision to the parents.Samaritanism
Like Judaism, the religion of Samaritanism requires ritual circumcision on the eighth day of life.Indian religions
Africa
In West Africa, infant circumcision had religious significance as a rite of passage or otherwise in the past; today in some non-Muslim Nigerian societies it is medicalised and is simply a cultural norm.Amongst the Serer ethnoreligious group of Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania, and Guinea-Bissau, the Ndut initiation rite has Serer religious, cultural, and educational significance - which Serer boys must undergo when they reach thirteen years of age, and usually conducted in groups, in a temporary Serer sanctuary called "ndut" - which is burnt after the sacred rite is completed and the boys have been discharged back to their families. It is in this sacred place that the circumcision takes place as Serer custom dictates. The nest is burn down after the ritual is over, because Serer custom dictates that, a boy cannot be circumcised in the same nest his father was circumcised in. It is in classical Ndut teachings that many aspects of Serer ancient history, Serer cosmogony - including the history and mysteries of the universe are taught. It is from this tradition that the ultra-religious, ultra-conservative, Serer Njuup music tradition originated, which would become the progenitor of the Mbalax music genre of the Senegambia region.
In many West African traditional societies circumcision has become medicalised and is simply performed in infancy without ado or any particular conscious cultural significance. Among the Urhobo of southern Nigeria it is symbolic of a boy entering into manhood. The ritual expression, Omo te Oshare, constitutes a rite of passage from one age set to another.
In East Africa, specifically in Kenya among various so-classified Bantu and Nilotic peoples, such as the Maragoli and Idakho of the Luhya super-ethnic group, the Kikuyu, Kalenjin and Maasai, circumcision is a rite of passage observed collectively by a number of boys every few years, and boys circumcised at the same time are taken to be members of a single age set.
Authority derives from the age-group and the age-set. Prior to circumcision a natural leader or Olaiguenani is selected; he leads his age-group through a series of rituals until old age, sharing responsibility with a select few, of whom the ritual expert is the ultimate authority. Masai youths are not circumcised until they are mature, and a new age-set is initiated together at regular intervals of twelve to fifteen years. The young warriors remain initiates for some time, using blunt arrows to hunt small birds which are stuffed and tied to a frame to form a head-dress. Traditionally, among the Luhya, boys of certain age-sets, typically between 8 and 18 years of age would, under the leadership of specific men engage in various rites leading up to the day of circumcision. After circumcision, they would live apart from the rest of society for a certain number of days. Not even their mothers nor sisters would be allowed to see them.
The Xhosa Tribe from the Eastern Cape in South Africa has a circumcision ritual. The ceremony is part of a transition to manhood. It is called the Abakwetha - "A Group Learning". A group of normally five aged between 16 and 20 go off for three months and live in a special hut. The circumcision is the climax of the ritual. Nelson Mandela describes his experiences undergoing this ritual in his biography, Long Walk to Freedom. Traditional circumcisions are often performed in unsterile conditions where no anesthetic is administered; improper treatment of the wound can lead to sepsis and dehydration, which has in the past lead to initiate deaths.
Among some West African animist groups, such as the Dogon and Dowayo, circumcision represents a removal of "feminine" aspects of the male, turning boys into fully masculine males.