The UK celebrates Christian festivals, so I've had Christian culture "imposed" on me.
If I had a say, countries themselves wouldn't celebrate anything. I pretty much am in agreement with the US constitution on this.
That would be a boring world. And to be quite honest, I like the atmosphere of the festivals, even if I don't believe in them.
But don't you at least understand my point? I'm heavily opposed to christians and muslims raising their kids religiously. But that doesn't need to get stuck in their heads and they become atheist or buddhist or jewish later on.
Being Jewish is a matter of peoplehood, not faith. Circumcision is part of our cultural identity, not religious. There's a lot more than just Judaism to it.
With removing body parts, you don't have that. You're, as I said, branded for eternity.
I don't mind.
Also, I agree with Dawkins in that nobody should say they're child is something because its parents are. Have you ever heard of a liberal, a fascist or a democratic child?
I've met children who were liberal or sadly sometimes fascist in their attitudes towards others. They just learned the words to describe their outlook a bit later.
Again, don't think I just want to play around with how you raise your kids.
But basically, you do.
My concern is from the point of view that circumcision harms boys.
And having been a circumcised boy once, let me just say no it doesn't. And so do millions of others.
Don't you think it's a bit extreme to pretend I want to take away your parental liberties by outlawing something like circumcision?
You're talking about interfering by taking away the right to raise our children as we see fit. From all the evidence available to me, and personal experience, circumcision causes no harm at all. Having my son circumcised at birth doesn't make me a bad parent. Indeed, there are plenty of people raising their kids badly out there without having them circumcised. I'd be rather more concerned about them quite frankly.
You still can/have to socialise your children, care about their education, and can still spend time with them. It's similar to parents complaining because of child protection laws. Again, I'm not comparing violence in upbringing directly to circumcision, I mean to imply that parents overreact if politics address any issue on parenting.
If politics infringes on our rights to live as we see fit, then we get a bit annoyed. I don't really think it's "extreme" to be annoyed by that.
In a simple sentence, it's about a child's right to bodily integrity. And I value this highly above the parents' rights to religious influence. If you can't understand this concept, I can't help you.
I'm not going to advocate legally changing how you would raise your kids, as I don't think I have the right. You don't have the right to advocate to force me or anyone else to conform to your norms over an issue that medically, is rather redundant.
