Yo Bro - Thanks for bringing this up - circumcision is genital mutilation -it IS worth thinking about - since so many folks just accept it as routine... WTF!? My girlfriend is about to be a grandmother - the babe is boy... and the fam is already "planning" this big event: the briss... but no one asked the little fellah how he feels about having his unit whacked before he even has a chance to test drive the thing... I am keeping my mouf shut regarding the matter because - cultural sensitivity? i.e. this practice is (thankfully) not a part of my religious, cultural or traditional belief system... It is not my place to butt in with my goy opinion... So.

However, I mean really - does anyone give this barbarism any thought?! (Some do.) This tradition began way back before people bathed regularly or had access to decent health care info, or general literacy (genital literacy?) it MAY have served some purpose then, however, those days are loooooong gone - we now have a great deal more info about health matters and rather easy regular access to soap and water? I strongly believe it's long past time to stop the practice of genital mutilation of innocent victims of BOTH genders.

IN the 1970s the American Academy of Pediatrics announced that there is no medical need for circumcision and Dr. Benjamin Spock spoke out against it.

Google [The unkindest cut" + circumcision]

--check this link:
http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/bulletin/2002/fall/classnotes_13.html

Many thanks!

The New Testament and Jesus Christ repeatedly spoke out against the Pharisees. The word "Pharisee" is rooted in a word which basically means separatist, in that the Pharisees made special efforts to hold themselves to a higher standard than the rest of people, so you might think that someone like Jesus would be best friends with these sorts of people.

The problem was that the Pharisees cared more about legalism and their own embellished traditions than what Jesus felt was the core of the holy message they were supposed to be protecting and living. When Jesus healed on the Sabbath, for example, and the Pharisees got peeved, Jesus says that if one of your sheep falls into a pit, you would pull it out on the sabbath, but not heal someone? Jesus pointed out the hypocrisy of not allowing healing on the sabbath, saying that the Pharisees cared more about sheep than people!

Regarding legalism and the core of the message, Jesus said things like it is said that it is a sin to murder, but I tell you that anyone who is angry at their brother is in danger of the hell fire.

Anyways, you speaking out against painful punishment of children, which I agree is bad parenting/school-teaching, and things like herpes-passing circumcision rituals is reminiscent of Jesus speaking out against the Pharisees! Fortunately, I doubt these people you are speaking against would crucify you nowadays!

I guess it's easy to pick on the "religious" BUT have you taken notice of the number of public school epidemic of students both (female and male) having sex with their students?

This problem is not confined to the religious. How about the abuses in Oprah’s school – what religion is there?

We all worship at some altar and as long as there are humans involved there needs to be supervision and control.

If you know of the Perfect system, Please enlighten us.

Sexual predators are drawn to positions of power. Being a Priest/Pastor is a position in which people trust you, much like being a teacher. That is why predators seek out these positions. It has nothing to do with the religions themselves. This is a terrible article. You're just pointing out two things and drawing them together into a conclusion. I can say that as the number of pirates in the world decreases, the effects of global warming increase. Is there a link between the two? Probably not.

... but if he did, I'm not convinced that his allowing sinful actions on the part of his disciples implies his approval. If we follow the scheme that God gave his subjects free will, then some will, as the commentor above me stated, abuse the power handed to those in positions of religious authority.

There do seem to be a lot of naked children in religious themed paintings though...