Kinda insane when you think about it: one of the strongest powers in the world in terms of military and economic power regularly practices religiously motivated infant genital mutilation.
But on the other hand very much in character for the USA...
Christians explicitly don't, as the requirement to circumcise was rejected at the council of Jerusalem in Acts 15. It's actually a heresy to claim that it's required for salvation.
Americans don't really read the Bible though. And that wouldn't be the biggest heresy on the list by far. Even omitting Mormons, and JWs, 3/4 of American evangelicals believe in the Arian heresy the first heresy to be addressed by an ecumenical council in the Council of Nicaea of 325. The Nicene Creed one
A bunch of Christian wackos wanted to prevent people from jacking off. Didn’t work, but it just became normal. Kellogg also made cornflakes for the same reason, IIRC
I have no direct insight into the mind of these lunatics and I suspect that the "it's just what everyone does" motivation one commentor mentioned is probably the most common direct motivation these days.
Nevertheless, the original reason to implement the practice was (afaik) to prevent masturbation which was religiously motivated (Christians saying "masturbation is sin").
Sure, when that idiocy became untenable in the increasingly secular society due to the enlightenment, people needed a new reason to continue (because accepting being wrong was naturally unacceptable 🙄), and so they reframed it as a medical thing by inventing more bullshit claims.
So overall, I stand by calling it "religiously motivated" even if it is not a strict requirement by the base religion itself as it is in e.g. Judaism.
It originated as a religious thing, but has since become more cultural. The inventor of Kellogg's breakfast cereal thought it prevented masturbation (obviously not; take one look at the number of American porn sites), and so he promoted the hell out of it.
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u/BankaiRasenshuriken Wants to die 29d ago
Bro forgot to wear his foreskin