Parents have many difficult choices to make from the first day their baby is born. One of the most challenging decisions for boy parents has always been, "to circumcise or not to circumcise?". Some religions require circumcision and practice it during a sacred ceremony with the family. Others believe it is abuse and want nothing to do with it. Here is what we have found...
Anthropologists agree that South Sea Islanders, Australian Aborigines, Sumatrans, Incas, Aztecs, Mayans, and Ancient Egyptians performed ritual male circumcisions. Jews, Muslims, and many tribes in the East and Southern Africa still practice it today. It is said that Abraham was circumcised and so were many of the young men of his time in order to remain clean while walking in the desert sand and not having the ability to wash and keep clean. Over time, many different types of circumcisions were performed for reasons ranging from proving courage and strength, to being the cure of 100 conditions including alcoholism, asthma, epilepsy, enuresis, hernia, gout, prolapse, rheumatism, and kidney disease. Even though circumcision is not a cure to any disease, and men have ways to stay clean that we never had in the past, about 4% of the UK and Scandinavia people, and 77% of males in the US are still circumcised. Is circumcision a procedure that helps or hinders the child receiving it?
According to Dr. Paul D. Tinari, Ph.D., research proves that circumcision is extremely traumatic for the baby, and that the brain of the child never returns to baseline configuration after it has been performed. A neurologist studied a circumcision on a baby under an MRI machine. The greatest shifts in the brain happened to the limbic system and the frontal and temporal lobes. These are the areas of the brain responsible for reasoning, perception, and emotions. The conclusion of the research showed that the brain of a circumcised infant was and is permanently changed by the surgery in these areas of the brain. They showed to never return to normal levels, and therefore the child was permanently scarred.
There is no judgement on religious beliefs or spiritual practices, but ancient times of walking miles through sand with no shower or ways to stay clean are no longer an issue. We have current research, and many men that we know talk about the trauma they personally have today from that procedure they had done as babies. Maybe we need to reevaluate what is best for the baby/adult man and let them decide when they are old enough to know what is being done. So, my answer to this question for those who are asking me is to wait and allow the baby to grow up and decide for himself. This procedure can be done at any point in a males life. It is their body, so I believe it should be their choice. Knowledge is power, and this is the blessing of scientific research. The more we know and understand, the better choices we can make.
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