[If you do not see a blue menu bar on the right, click here. You are at "How Did It Start?".]

"Given these facts, why is it done? If we were to mutilate male babies in any other way, we would be prosecuted for child abuse. How has circumcision survived into the twentieth century? To find the answer we have to go back six thousand years. It started as an ancient Egyptian custom and there are wall carvings to prove it. It seems to have its origin in snake worship. The Egyptians believed that when the snake shed its skin, and emerged shiny and new again, it was undergoing rebirth. They reasoned that if, by shedding skin, the snake could become apparently immortal, then humans should follow suit. They made the simple equation: snakeskin = foreskin, and the operation began. From there it spread to many Semitic peoples, both Arabs and Jews adopting it and converting it into an act of religious faith. As the centuries passed it became popular in other regions of the world for moral, medical, or hygienic reasons, and it is still performed today on millions of babies all over the globe. 30

CIRCUMCISION: A Riddle of American Culture, Reed D. Riner, Ph.D.

"Historians of the future will find it incredible that we mutilated babies by cutting off the end of their penises in the name of medicine. There are now serious concerns this routine procedure may actually deprive adult men of a vital part of their sexual sensitivity." Dean Edell, MD.,- Radio and Television Medical Advisor