Editing Circumcision controversies (section)

==Religious and cultural conflicts==
{{See also|History of circumcision}}

===Ancient Near East===
[[File:Isaac's circumcision, Regensburg c1300.jpg|thumb|Circumcision of Abraham's son Isaac. Regensburg Pentateuch, Israel Museum, Jerusalem (c. 1300).]]

The [[Book of Genesis]] explains circumcision as a [[Covenant (biblical)|covenant]] with God given to [[Abraham]],<ref>{{bibleverse|Gen|17:10}}</ref> In [[Judaism]] it "symbolizes the promise of lineage and fruitfulness of a great nation,"<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nAfUF2_ClqgC&q=circumcision+abraham&pg=PA9|title=The Covenant of Circumcision: New Perspectives on an Ancient Jewish Rite|last=Mark|first=Elizabeth Wyner|date=2003|publisher=UPNE|isbn=9781584653073|language=en}}</ref> the "seal of ownership and the guarantee of relationship between peoples and their god."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MiaDqrHGfSIC&q=circumcision+abraham&pg=PA118|title=Circumcision as a Malleable Symbol|last=Livesey|first=Nina E.|date=2010|publisher=Mohr Siebeck|isbn=9783161506284|language=en|access-date=25 October 2020|archive-date=28 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428014713/https://books.google.com/books?id=MiaDqrHGfSIC&q=circumcision+abraham&pg=PA118|url-status=live}}</ref> Some scholars look elsewhere for the origin of Jewish circumcision. One explanation, dating from [[Herodotus]], is that the custom was acquired from the [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptians]], possibly during the period of enslavement.<ref name="Gordon">{{cite journal |last1=Dunsmuir |first1=W. D. |last2=Gordon |first2=E. M. |title=The history of circumcision |url=http://www.cirp.org/library/history/dunsmuir1/ |journal=[[BJU International]] |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]] |volume=83 |year=1999 |pages=1–12 |issue=Suppl. 1:1–12 |doi=10.1046/j.1464-410x.1999.0830s1001.x |pmid=10349408 |s2cid=32754534 |access-date=13 April 2020 |archive-date=12 August 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040812031150/http://www.cirp.org/library/history/dunsmuir1/ |url-status=live |doi-access=free |url-access=subscription }}</ref> An additional hypothesis, based on linguistic/ethnographic work begun in the 19th century,<ref name="Barton"/> suggests circumcision was a common tribal custom among [[Semitic languages|Semitic-speaking]] peoples ([[Jews]], [[Arabs]], and [[Phoenicians]]).

The Jewish and [[Islamic]] traditions both see circumcision as a way to distinguish a group from its neighbours.<ref>See the story of [[Dinah|Dina & Shechem]] in Genesis.  Also the mass circumcision during the [[exodus from Egypt]].</ref> The [[Bible]] records "uncircumcised" being used as a derogatory reference for opponents<ref>{{bibleverse|1Sam|17:26}}</ref> and Jewish victory in battle that culminated in mass post-mortem circumcision, to provide an account of the number of enemy casualties.<ref>{{bibleverse|1Sam|18:27}}</ref> Jews were also required to circumcise all household members, including slaves<ref>{{bibleverse|Gen|17:12-14}}</ref>&nbsp;– a practice that would later put them into collision with Roman and Christian law (see below).

===Classical civilization===
In 167 BCE [[Judea]] was part of the [[Seleucid Empire]]. Its ruler, [[Antiochus IV Epiphanes]] (175–165 BCE), smarting from a defeat in a war against [[Ptolemaic Egypt]], [[Anti-Judaism|banned traditional Jewish religious practices]], and attempted to forcibly let the Jews accept [[Hellenistic culture]].<ref name="JewishEncyclopedia">{{cite web |url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4391-circumcision#anchor4 |title=Circumcision: In Apocryphal and Rabbinical Literature |last1=Kohler |first1=Kaufmann |last2=Hirsch |first2=Emil G. |last3=Jacobs |first3=Joseph |last4=Friedenwald |first4=Aaron |last5=Broydé |first5=Isaac |author1-link=Kaufmann Kohler |author2-link=Emil G. Hirsch |author3-link=Joseph Jacobs |author5-link=Isaac Broydé |publisher=[[Kopelman Foundation]] |website=[[Jewish Encyclopedia]] |date=1906 |access-date=4 January 2020 |quote=Contact with Grecian life, especially at the games of the arena [which involved [[nudity]]], made this distinction obnoxious to the Hellenists, or antinationalists; and the consequence was their attempt to appear like the Greeks by [[epispasm]] ("making themselves foreskins"; I Macc. i. 15; Josephus, "Ant." xii. 5, § 1; Assumptio Mosis, viii.; I Cor. vii. 18; Tosef., Shab. xv. 9; Yeb. 72a, b; Yer. Peah i. 16b; Yeb. viii. 9a). All the more did the law-observing Jews defy the edict of [[Antiochus IV Epiphanes]] prohibiting circumcision (I Macc. i. 48, 60; ii. 46); and the Jewish women showed their loyalty to the Law, even at the risk of their lives, by themselves circumcising their sons. |archive-date=8 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200108122552/http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4391-circumcision#anchor4 |url-status=live }}</ref> Throughout the country Jews were ordered, with the threat of [[execution]], to sacrifice [[pigs]] to [[Greek gods]] (the normal practice in the [[Ancient Greek religion]]), desecrate the [[Shabbat]], eat un[[kosher]] animals (especially [[pork]]), and relinquish their [[Jewish scriptures]]. Antiochus' decree also outlawed Jewish circumcision,<ref name="JewishEncyclopedia"/> and parents who violated his order were hanged along with their infants.<ref name="Remondino1891"/><ref>{{bibleverse|1|Maccabees|1:46-67}}</ref> According to [[Tacitus]], as quoted by Hodges, Antiochus "endeavoured to abolish Jewish [[superstitio]]n and to [[Hellenization|introduce Greek civilization]]."<ref name="Hodges2001"/>

According to [[Rabbinical literature|rabbinical accounts]], he desecrated the [[Second Temple]] of [[Jerusalem]] by placing a statue of Olympian [[Zeus]] on the altar of the Temple;<ref name="Ginzberg">{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Ginzberg |first1=Louis |author-link1=Louis Ginzberg |url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/353-abomination-of-desolation |title=Abomination of Desolation |encyclopedia=[[Jewish Encyclopedia]] |publisher=[[Kopelman Foundation]] |date=1906 |access-date=4 January 2020 |archive-date=28 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328180114/http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/353-abomination-of-desolation |url-status=live }}</ref> this incident is also reported by the [[Bible|biblical]] ''[[Book of Daniel]]'',<ref name="Ginzberg"/> where the author refers to the statue of the Greek god inside the Temple as "[[abomination of desolation]]".<ref name="Ginzberg"/> Antiochus' decrees and vituperation of [[Second Temple Judaism|Judaism]] motivated the [[Maccabean Revolt]];<ref name="Kasher">{{cite book |last=Kasher |first=Aryeh |date=1990 |title=Jews and Hellenistic cities in Eretz-Israel: Relations of the Jews in Eretz-Israel with the Hellenistic cities during the Second Temple Period (332 BCE - 70 CE) |chapter=2: The Early Hasmonean Era |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SNfZ4OjH_ukC&pg=PA55 |location=[[Tübingen]] |publisher=[[Mohr Siebeck]] |pages=55–65 |series=Texte und Studien zum Antiken Judentum |volume=21 |isbn=978-3-16-145241-3 |author-link=Aryeh Kasher |access-date=8 October 2018 |archive-date=3 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190703151152/https://books.google.com/books?id=SNfZ4OjH_ukC&pg=PA55 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Slate">{{cite news |last=Ponet |first=James |date=22 December 2005 |title=The Maccabees and the Hellenists: Hanukkah as Jewish civil war. |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/life/faithbased/2005/12/the_maccabees_and_the_hellenists.html |work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |access-date=4 January 2020 |archive-date=18 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918012611/http://www.slate.com/articles/life/faithbased/2005/12/the_maccabees_and_the_hellenists.html |url-status=live }}</ref> the Maccabees reacted violently against the forced [[Hellenization]] of Judea,<ref name="Kasher"/> destroyed pagan altars in the villages, circumcised boys, and forced Hellenized Jews into outlawry.<ref name="deLange">[[Nicholas de Lange]] (ed.), ''The Illustrated History of the Jewish People'', London, Aurum Press, 1997, {{ISBN|1-85410-530-2}}.</ref> The revolt ended in the re-establishment of an independent Jewish kingdom under the [[Hasmoneans]],<ref name="Kasher"/><ref name="Slate"/> until it turned into a [[client state]] of the [[Roman Republic]] under the [[Herodian kingdom|reign]] of [[Herod the Great]] (37{{ndash}}4 BCE).

[[Classical antiquity|Classical]], [[Hellenistic culture|Hellenistic]], and [[Roman culture]] found circumcision to be cruel and repulsive.<ref name="Hodges2001"/><ref name="Neusner"/><ref name="Fredriksen">{{cite book |last=Fredriksen |first=Paula |author-link=Paula Fredriksen |date=2018 |title=When Christians Were Jews: The First Generation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NW9yDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA10 |location=[[London]] |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |pages=10–11 |isbn=978-0-300-19051-9 |access-date=28 September 2019 |archive-date=14 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200514140145/https://books.google.com/books?id=NW9yDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA10 |url-status=live }}</ref> In the [[Roman Empire]], circumcision was regarded as a barbaric and disgusting custom.<ref name="Hodges2001"/><ref name="Rubin">{{cite journal |last1=Rubin |first1=Jody P. |title=Celsus' Decircumcision Operation: Medical and Historical Implications |journal=[[Urology (journal)|Urology]] |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=121–4 |date=July 1980 |url=http://www.cirp.org/library/restoration/rubin/ |doi=10.1016/0090-4295(80)90354-4 |pmid=6994325 |access-date=4 January 2020 |archive-date=8 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200508063726/http://www.cirp.org/library/restoration/rubin/ |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Fredriksen"/> The consul [[Titus Flavius Clemens (consul)|Titus Flavius Clemens]] was condemned to death by the [[Roman Senate]] in 95 CE for, according to the [[Talmud]], circumcising himself and [[Conversion to Judaism|converting to Judaism]]. The Emperor [[Hadrian]] (117{{ndash}}138) forbade circumcision.<ref name="Hodges2001"/><ref name="Rubin"/><ref name="Schäfer2003">{{cite book|last=Schäfer|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Schäfer|title=The History of the Jews in the Greco-Roman World: The Jews of Palestine from Alexander the Great to the Arab Conquest|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-0aBAgAAQBAJ|year=2003|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=1-134-40316-X|pages=145–146|access-date=4 January 2020|archive-date=27 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200527165043/https://books.google.com/books?id=-0aBAgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> Overall, the rite of circumcision was especially execrable in [[Classical civilization]],<ref name="Hodges2001"/><ref name="Rubin"/><ref name="Fredriksen"/> also because it was the custom to spend an hour a day or so exercising [[Sexuality in ancient Rome#Male nudity|nude]] in the ''[[Gymnasium (ancient Greece)|gymnasium]]'' and in [[Thermae|Roman baths]], therefore Jewish men did not want to be seen in public deprived of their [[foreskin]]s.<ref name="Hodges2001"/><ref name="JewishEncyclopedia"/><ref name="Rubin"/><ref name="Fredriksen"/>

As for the anti-circumcision law passed by [[Hadrian]], it is considered by many{{who|date=January 2019}} to be, together with his decision to build a Roman temple upon the ruins of the [[Second Temple]] and dedicate it to [[Jupiter (god)|Jupiter]], one of the main causes of the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]] (132{{ndash}}135 CE), which was brutally crushed;<ref name="Cassius Dio">[[Cassius Dio]], ''[[Cassius Dio#Roman History|Roman History]]'', book 69, 12.1-14.3. [[Loeb Classical Library]], 9 volumes, Greek texts and facing English translation by Earnest Cary (1914-1927), [[Harvard University Press]]. Online in [[LacusCurtius]]:[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/69*.html#12] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200329072634/http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/69*.html#12|date=2020-03-29}} and livius.org:[https://www.livius.org/ja-jn/jewish_wars/bk05.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160813220152/http://www.livius.org/ja-jn/jewish_wars/bk05.html|date=13 August 2016}}. Book scan in [[Internet Archive]]:[https://archive.org/stream/diosromanhistory08cassuoft#page/446/mode/2up].</ref> according to [[Cassius Dio]], 580,000 Jews were killed and 50 fortified towns and 985 villages razed.<ref name="Cassius Dio"/><ref>[http://www.zuckermann.org/mosaic.html Mosaic or mosaic?—The Genesis of the Israeli Language] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090402201247/http://www.zuckermann.org/mosaic.html |date=2 April 2009 }} by Zuckermann, Gilad</ref> He claimed that "Many Romans, moreover, perished in this war. Therefore, Hadrian, in writing to the [[Roman Senate|Senate]], did not employ the opening phrase commonly affected by the Emperors: 'If you and your children are in health, it is well; I and the army are in health.'"<ref name="Cassius Dio"/> Because of the great loss of life in the war, even though Hadrian was victorious, he refused a [[Roman triumph|triumph]].

Hadrian's policy after the rebellion reflected an attempt to [[Anti-Judaism|root out Judaism]]: he enacted a ban on circumcision,<ref name="Hodges2001"/><ref name="Schäfer2003"/> all Jews were forbidden to enter [[Jerusalem]] upon pain of death, and the city was renamed ''[[Aelia Capitolina]]'', while [[Roman Judea|Judea]] was renamed ''[[Syria Palaestina]]''. Around 140, his successor [[Antoninus Pius]] (138-161 CE) exempted Jews from the decree against circumcision, allowing them to circumcise their sons, although they were forbidden to do the same on their [[Jewish views on slavery#Talmudic era|slaves]] and [[proselyte]]s.<ref name="Hodges2001"/><ref name="Schäfer2003"/> Jewish nationalists' ([[Pharisees]] and [[Zealots]]) response to the decrees also took a more moderate form: circumcisions were secretly performed, even on dead Jews.<ref name="Remondino1891"/>

However, there were also many Jews, known as "[[Hellenistic Judaism|Hellenizers]]", who viewed Hellenization and [[social integration]] of the Jewish people in the [[Greco-Roman world]] favourably,<ref name="Hodges2001"/><ref name="Slate"/><ref name="Rubin"/> and pursued a completely different approach: accepting the Emperor's decree and even making efforts to [[Foreskin restoration|restore their foreskins]] to better assimilate into [[Hellenistic civilization|Hellenistic society]].<ref name="Hodges2001"/><ref name="Kennedy2015"/><ref name="JewishEncyclopedia"/><ref name="Slate"/><ref name="Rubin"/> The latter approach was common during the reign of Antiochus, and again under Roman rule.<ref name="Hodges2001"/><ref name="Rubin"/> The foreskin was restored by one of two methods, that were later revived in the late 20th century; both were described in detail by the Greek physician [[Aulus Cornelius Celsus]] in his comprehensive encyclopedic work ''[[De Medicina]]'', written during the reign of [[Tiberius]] (14-37 CE).<ref name="Rubin"/><ref name="restore">{{cite journal |last1=Schultheiss |first1=Dirk |last2=Truss |first2=Michael C. |last3=Stief |first3=Christian G. |last4=Jonas |first4=Udo |title=Uncircumcision: A Historical Review of Preputial Restoration |journal=[[Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery]] |publisher=[[Lippincott Williams & Wilkins]] |date=1998 |volume=101 |issue=7 |pages=1990–8 |url=http://www.cirp.org/library/restoration/schultheiss/ |doi=10.1097/00006534-199806000-00037 |pmid=9623850 |access-date=4 January 2020 |archive-date=27 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190527201844/http://www.cirp.org/library/restoration/schultheiss/ |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> The surgical method involved freeing the skin covering the [[Human penis|penis]] by dissection, and then pulling it forward over the glans; he also described a simpler surgical technique used on men whose [[Aposthia|prepuce is naturally insufficient]] to cover their glans.<ref name="Rubin"/><ref name="restore"/> The second approach, known as "[[epispasm]]",<ref name="Hodges2001"/><ref name="Neusner"/><ref name="Rubin"/><ref name="restore"/> was non-surgical: a [[restoration device]] which consisted of a special weight made of bronze, copper, or leather (sometimes called ''Pondus Judaeus'', i.e. "Jewish burden"),<ref name="Hodges2001"/><ref name="Rubin"/><ref name="restore"/> was affixed to the penis, pulling its skin downward. Over time, a new foreskin was generated, or a short prepuce was lengthened, by means of [[Tissue expansion#Foreskin restoration|tissue expansion]].<ref name="Hodges2001"/><ref name="Rubin"/><ref name="restore"/> [[Martial]] also mentioned the instrument in ''Epigrammaton'' (Book 7:35).<ref name="restore"/>

The [[Apostle Paul]] referred to these practices in his [[Pauline epistles|letters]],<ref name="Hodges2001"/><ref name="Rubin"/><ref name="restore"/> saying: "Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised."<ref>{{bibleverse|1Cor|7:18}}</ref> But he also explicitly denounced the [[Forced circumcision|forcing of circumcision upon non-Jews]], rejecting and condemning those [[Judaizers]] who stipulated the ritual to [[Gentile]] [[Christianity in the 1st century|Christians]], labelling such advocates as "false brothers"<ref>{{bibleverse|Gal|2:4}}</ref> ([[#Circumcision controversy in early Christianity|see below]]). In the mid-2nd century [[Tannaim|Rabbinical Jewish leaders]], due to increasing cases of foreskin restorations in Roman Empire, introduced a radical method of circumcision, the ''periah'', that left the glans totally uncovered and sew the remaining skin. The new method became immediately the only valid circumcision procedure, to ensure that a born Jew will remain circumcised for all his life and to make mostly impossible restoring the foreskin.<ref name="restore"/> Operations became permanent and irreversible like today.

Under the first Christian emperor, [[Constantine I|Constantine]], the two rescripts of Antoninus on circumcision were re-enacted and again in the 6th century under [[Justinian]]. These restrictions on circumcision made their way into both secular and [[Canon law]] and "at least through the [[Middle Ages]], preserved and enhanced laws banning Hebrews from circumcising non-Hebrews and banning Christians or slaves of any religious affiliation from undergoing circumcision for any reason."<ref name="Hodges2001"/>

===Christianity===
{{main|Circumcision controversy in early Christianity}}
{{further|Religious male circumcision#Christianity}}
[[File:Baptism at St. Mary's Church in Dedham, Massachusetts.jpg|thumb|The Christian sacrament of [[baptism]], in [[covenant theology]], is seen as fulfilling the Israelite rite of circumcision.]]
Circumcision has also [[Circumcision controversy in early Christianity|played a major role]] in [[History of Christianity|Christian history]] and [[Christian theology|theology]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jacobs |first=Andrew |title=Christ Circumcised: A Study in Early Christian History and Difference |publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania Press]] |year=2012 |isbn=9780812206517 |location=United States |pages=}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last1=Bolnick |first1=David |title=Surgical Guide to Circumcision |last2=Koyle |first2=Martin |last3=Yosha |first3=Assaf |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]] |year=2012 |isbn=9781447128588 |location=United Kingdom |pages=290–298 |chapter=Circumcision in the Early Christian Church: The Controversy That Shaped a Continent |quote=In summary, circumcision has played a surprisingly important role in Western history. The circumcision debate forged a Gentile identity to the early Christian church which allowed it to survive the Jewish Diaspora and become the dominant religion of Western Europe. Circumcision continued to have a major cultural presence throughout Christendom even after the practice had all but vanished.... the circumcision of Jesus... celebrated as a religious holiday... [has been] examined by many of the greatest scholars and artists of the Western tradition.}}</ref> While the circumcision of Jesus is celebrated as [[Feast of the Circumcision of Christ|a feast day]] in the [[Liturgical year|liturgical calendar]] of many [[Christian denomination]]s.<ref name=":6"/>
There was debate in the [[early Church]] on whether [[Gentiles]] needed to be circumcised in order to join the communities; some [[Jewish Christians]] insisted that it was necessary. As such, the [[Council of Jerusalem]] (50 CE) was held, which decreed that male [[Circumcision in the Bible|circumcision]] was not a requirement for Gentiles, which became known as the "[[Council of Jerusalem#Issues and outcome|Apostolic Decree]]".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bechtel |first1=Florentine |author1-link=Florentine Bechtel |title=Catholic Encyclopedia |date=1910 |publisher=Robert Appleton Company |chapter-url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08537a.htm |chapter=Judaizers |access-date=1 March 2010 |archive-date=21 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181221214842/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08537a.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> This was one of the first acts [[Split of early Christianity and Judaism|differentiating Early Christianity from Judaism]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kohler |first1=Kaufmann |author1-link=Kaufmann Kohler |last2=Krauss |first2=Samuel |author2-link=Samuel Krauss |title=Jewish Encyclopedia |date=1906 |publisher=Funk & Wagnalls Co |location=New York |chapter-url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/2456-baptism |chapter=Baptism |access-date=8 October 2018 |archive-date=24 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180924050103/http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/2456-baptism |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Covenant theology]] largely views the Christian [[sacrament]] of [[baptism]] as fulfilling the Israelite practice of circumcision, both being signs and seals of the covenant of grace.<ref name="Clark2012">{{cite web |last1=Clark |first1=R. Scott |author1-link=R. Scott Clark |title=Baptism and Circumcision According to Colossians 2:11–12 |url=https://heidelblog.net/2012/09/baptism-and-circumcision-according-to-colossians-211-12/ |publisher=The Heidelblog |access-date=24 December 2020 |language=en |date=17 September 2012 |archive-date=1 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101024039/https://heidelblog.net/2012/09/baptism-and-circumcision-according-to-colossians-211-12/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Crowther1815">{{cite book|last=Crowther|first=Jonathan|author-link=Jonathan Crowther (minister)|title=A Portraiture of Methodism|year=1815|language=en|page=224}}</ref>

Today, many [[Christian denominations]] are neutral about ritual male circumcision, not requiring it for religious observance, but neither forbidding it for cultural or other reasons.<ref>{{cite book| author = Pope Eugenius IV | author-link = Pope Eugene IV| editor-first = Norman P. | editor-last = Tanner | title = Decrees of the ecumenical councils| orig-date = 1442 | access-date = 25 April 2007| series = 2 volumes| year = 1990| publisher = [[Georgetown University Press]]| location = [[Washington, D.C.]]| isbn = 978-0-87840-490-2| language = el, la | chapter = Ecumenical Council of Florence (1438–1445): Session 11—4 February 1442; Bull of union with the Copts| chapter-url = http://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/FLORENCE.HTM#5| quote = it denounces all who after that time observe circumcision| lccn = 90003209}}</ref> While in some [[Christianity in Africa|African]] and [[Eastern Christianity|Eastern Christian denominations]] (such as the [[Coptic Christian|Coptic]], [[Ethiopian Orthodox|Ethiopian]], and [[Eritrean Orthodox|Eritrean]] Orthodox Churches) male circumcision is an established practice,<ref name="N. Stearns 2008 179"/><ref>{{cite book|title=Cultural Encyclopedia of the Body [2 volumes]|first=Victoria |last=Pitts-Taylor|author-link=Victoria Pitts-Taylor|year= 2008| isbn= 9781567206913| page =394|publisher=ABC-CLIO|quote=For most part, Christianity does not require circumcision of its followers. Yet, some Orthodox and African Christian groups do require circumcision. These circumcisions take place at any point between birth and puberty.}}</ref> and require that their male members undergo circumcision shortly after birth as part of a [[rite of passage]].<ref name="N. Stearns 2008 179"/>

Male circumcision is widely practiced among [[Christians|Christian communities]] in the [[Anglosphere|Anglosphere countries]], [[Africa]], [[Oceania]], the [[Middle East]], [[South Korea]] and the [[Philippines]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Female Circumcision Controversy: An Anthropological Perspective|first=Ellen|last= Gruenbaum|author-link=Ellen Gruenbaum|year= 2015| isbn= 9780812292510| page =61 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|quote= Christian theology generally interprets male circumcision to be an Old Testament rule that is no longer an obligation ... though in many countries (especially the United States and Sub-Saharan Africa, but not so much in Europe) it is widely practiced among Christians}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Spirituality and Religion Within the Culture of Medicine: From Evidence to Practice |first=John R. |last=Peteet |year= 2017 |isbn=9780190272432 |pages=97–101 |publisher=Oxford University Press |quote=male circumcision is still observed among Ethiopian and Coptic Christians, and circumcision rates are also high today in the Philippines and the US.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://apnews.com/article/19456997e17c4a12a24abb9d11c01dba|title=Circumcision protest brought to Florence|publisher=[[Associated Press]]|date=March 30, 2008|quote=However, the practice is still common among Christians in the United States, Oceania, South Korea, the Philippines, the Middle East and Africa. Some Middle Eastern Christians actually view the procedure as a rite of passage.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ellwood |first=Robert S.|author-link=Robert S. Ellwood |title=The Encyclopedia of World Religions |publisher=[[Infobase Publishing]] |year=2008 |isbn=9781438110387 |pages=95 |quote=It is obligatory among Jews, Muslims, and Coptic Christians. Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Christians do not require circumcision. Starting in the last half of the 19th century, however, circumcision also became common among Christians in Europe and especially in North America.}}</ref> The [[United States]] and the Philippines are the largest [[Christianity by country|Christian countries]] in the world to extensively practice male circumcision.<ref>{{cite book|title=ABC of Sexual Health|first=Kevan R.|last=Wylie|year= 2015| isbn=9781118665695| page =101 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons|quote= Although it is mostly common and required in male newborns with Moslem or Jewish backgrounds, certain Christian-dominant countries such as the United States also practice it commonly.}}</ref> While countries with majorities of Christian adherents in [[Europe]] and [[South America]] have low circumcision rates.<ref>{{cite web |title=Male circumcision: Global trends and determinants of prevalence, safety and acceptability |year=2007 |publisher=World Health Organization |url=http://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/jc1360_male_circumcision_en_0.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222194858/http://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/jc1360_male_circumcision_en_0.pdf |archive-date=22 December 2015 }}</ref>

===Islam===
{{main|Khitan (circumcision)}}
{{further|Islamic hygienical jurisprudence}}
In the early 7th century, [[Muhammad]] welded together many Semitic tribes of the [[Arabian peninsula]] into the kernel of a rapidly expanding [[Muslim]] movement. Male and female circumcision were already well established among these tribes, and probably had been for more than 1,000 years, most likely as a fertility rite. Herodotus had noticed the practice among various Semite nations in the 5th century BCE, and [[Josephus]] had specifically mentioned circumcision as a tradition among [[Arab]]s in the 1st century CE.<ref name="Barton">{{cite book |author=George Barton |author-link=George Aaron Barton |title=A sketch of Semitic origins, social and religious |year=1902 |publisher=Macmillan |oclc=1850150 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/cu31924029872938/page/n117 98]–100 |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924029872938 |isbn=978-1-4286-1575-5}}</ref> There are some narrations attributed to Muhammad in which he approves of [[female circumcision]]; many scholars believe that these narrations are weak and lack authenticity.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.islamicemirate.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=310:female-circumcision-in-islam&catid=69:misconceptions-articles&Itemid=223 |title=Female Circumcision and Islam; Sheikh (Dr.) 'Abd al-Rahmân b. Hasan al-Nafisah, editor of the Contemporary Jurisprudence Research Journal, Riyadh |access-date=31 January 2010 |archive-date=31 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200531031410/https://convertfilenow.com/3/?kw=PNP1_LP3_convertfilenow&sid=11165151&said=islamicemiratecom&clickid=186899023056271966668524734104895944489 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://insideislam.wisc.edu/2011/02/the-truth-about-islam-and-female-circumcision/|title=The Truth About Islam and Female Circumcision|date=2011-02-18|work=Inside Islam|access-date=2018-09-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180930194554/https://insideislam.wisc.edu/2011/02/the-truth-about-islam-and-female-circumcision/|archive-date=2018-09-30|publisher=[[University of Wisconsin–Madison]]|language=en-US }}</ref>

The practice of circumcision is sometimes characterized as a part of ''[[fitrah]]'' as mentioned in the ''[[hadith]]'' (Prophetic narrations).<ref>{{Cite thesis|title=Male circumcision in the United States: The History, an analysis of the discourse, and a philosophical interpretation|last=Cohen|first=Jonathan|date=June 2011|publisher=College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations|page=29|quote=Unlike the Bible, there is not a lot of mention of circumcision in the Qur'an, but male circumcision is also deeply rooted in the Muslim tradition. Gollaher explains how "Muhammad is reported to have prescribed cutting the foreskin as a fitrah, a measure of personal cleanliness" (Gollaher, p. 45). Also, just as within the Jewish tradition, modern Muslims see this religious practice as not only morally but medically beneficial. A conference of Islamic scholars in 1987 stated that pro-circumcision medical studies "[reflect] the wisdom of the Islamic statements" (Gollaher, p. 47).|citeseerx = 10.1.1.854.2776}}</ref><ref>{{hadith-usc|bukhari|7|72|777}}</ref>

===Judaism===
{{See also|Brit milah#Criticism and legality}}
Around 140 CE, the ''[[Tannaim]]'' made [[Brit milah|circumcision requirements]] stricter, in order to make the procedure irreversible.<ref name=gollaher_2001_ch1>{{cite book|last=Gollaher|first=David|author-link=David Gollaher|title=Circumcision: A History Of The World's Most Controversial Surgery|chapter=1, ''The Jewish Tradition''|pages=1–30|date=February 2001|publisher=Basic Books|location=New York City|isbn=978-0-465-02653-1|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=usEzSffvPBMC|access-date=1 February 2016|archive-date=18 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160118224324/https://books.google.com/books?id=usEzSffvPBMC|url-status=live}}</ref>

During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries many [[Haskalah|Jewish reformers]], doctors, and [[physician]]s in [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Eastern Europe]] proposed to replace circumcision with a symbolic ceremony, while others sought to ban or abolish circumcision entirely,<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Epstein|first=Lisa|url=http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Circumcision|title=The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe|publisher=[[Yale University Press]]|year=2008|isbn=9780300119039|location=United States|quote=In the first half of the nineteenth century, various European governments considered regulating, if not banning, ''berit milah'' on the grounds that it posed potential medical dangers. In the 1840s, radical Jewish reformers in [[Frankfurt]] asserted that circumcision should no longer be compulsory. This controversy reached[[Russian Empire|Russia]] in the 1880s. Russian Jewish physicians expressed concern over two central issues: the competence of those carrying out the procedure, and the method used for ''metsitsah''. Many Jewish physicians supported the idea of procedural and hygienic reforms in the practice, and they debated the question of physician supervision during the ceremony. Most significantly, many advocated carrying out ''metsitsah'' by [[pipette]], not by mouth. In 1889, a committee on circumcision convened by the Russian Society for the Protection of Health, which included leading Jewish figures, recommended educating the Jewish public about the concerns connected with circumcision, in particular, the possible transmission of diseases such as [[tuberculosis]] and [[syphilis]] through the custom of ''metsitsah'' by mouth. Veniamin Portugalov, who—alone among Jewish physicians in Russia—called for the abolition of circumcision, set off these discussions. Portugalov not only denied all medical claims regarding the sanitary advantages of circumcision but disparaged the practice as barbaric, likening it to pagan ritual mutilation. Ritual circumcision, he claimed, stood as a self-imposed obstacle to the Jews'[[Jewish emancipation|attainment of true equality with the other peoples of Europe]].|access-date=28 July 2018|archive-date=28 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180728160745/http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Circumcision|url-status=live}}</ref> as they perceived it as a dangerous, barbaric and pagan ritual of [[genital mutilation]]<ref name=":0" /> that could [[Infectious disease#Transmission|transmit infectious diseases]] to newborns.<ref name=":0" /> The [[Religious male circumcision#Criticism and opposition to circumcision|first formal objection to circumcision within Judaism]] occurred in 1843 in [[Frankfurt]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name="gollaher_2001_ch1"/> The Society for the Friends of Reform, a group that criticized traditional Jewish practices, said that ''[[brit milah]]'' was not a ''[[mitzvah]]'' but an outworn legacy from [[Israelites|Israel]]'s earlier phases, an obsolete throwback to primitive religion.<ref name="gollaher_2001_ch1"/> With the expanding role of medicine came further opposition; certain aspects of Jewish circumcision such as ''periah'' and ''metzitzah'' (drawing the blood from the circumcision wound through sucking or a cloth) were deemed unhygienic and dangerous for the newborns.<ref name="gollaher_2001_ch1"/><ref name=":0" /> Later evidence that [[syphilis]] and [[tuberculosis]]&nbsp;– two of the most feared infectious diseases in the 19th century&nbsp;– were spread by mohels,<ref name=":0" /> caused various [[rabbis]] to advocate ''metzitzah'' to be done using a sponge or a tube.<ref name="gollaher_2001_ch1"/> Among the secular, non-observant Jews who chose to not circumcise their sons there was also [[Theodor Herzl]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jewishcircumcision.org/spectator.htm|title=Circumcision: A Source of Jewish Pain|access-date=2018-07-28|last=Goldman|first=Ronald|date=1997|website=Jewish Circumcision Resource Center|publisher=Jewish Spectator|archive-date=11 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200611151610/https://jewishcircumcision.org/spectator.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Ephron reports that non-Jews and also some Jewish reformers in early 19th-century Germany had criticized ritual circumcision as "barbaric" and that Jewish doctors responded to these criticisms with defences of the ritual or proposals for modification or reform. By the late 19th century some Jewish doctors in the country defended circumcision by saying it had health advantages.<ref>{{cite book |title=Medicine and the German Jews |author=John M. Ephron |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2001 |pages=222–233}}</ref> Today the [[Rabbinical Council of America]], the largest group of [[Modern Orthodox]] rabbis, endorses using a glass tube as a substitute of ''metzitzah''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.rabbis.org/news/article.cfm?id=100605 |title=Metzitza Be'Peh - Halachic Clarification Regarding Metzitza Be'Peh, RCA Clarifies Halachic Background to Statement of 1 March 2005 |access-date=5 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070415221929/http://www.rabbis.org/news/article.cfm?id=100605 |archive-date=15 April 2007 }}</ref>

However, a growing number of contemporary Jews and Intactivist Jewish groups in the United States and Israel, both [[Nonreligious|secular]] and religious, started to question overall long-term effects, [[psychological]] and psychophysical consequences of [[Psychological trauma|trauma]] caused by circumcision on Jewish children,<ref name="Jewish News">{{cite news |last=Oryszczuk |first=Stephen |date=28 February 2018 |title=The Jewish parents cutting out the bris |url=https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/the-jewish-parents-cutting-out-the-bris/ |work=[[The Times of Israel]] |location=[[Jerusalem]] |access-date=4 August 2018 |archive-date=3 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403221225/https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/the-jewish-parents-cutting-out-the-bris/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and choose not to circumcise their sons.<ref name="Kimmel">{{Cite journal |last=Kimmel |first=Michael S. |author-link=Michael Kimmel |date=May–June 2001 |title=The Kindest Un-Cut: Feminism, Judaism, and My Son's Foreskin |url=http://www.cirp.org/pages/cultural/kimmel1/ |url-status=live |journal=[[Tikkun (magazine)|Tikkun]] |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=43–48 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191219050701/http://www.cirp.org/pages/cultural/kimmel1/ |archive-date=19 December 2019 |access-date=4 January 2020}}</ref><ref name="Jewish News" /><ref>{{cite news
| url = https://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN22970720071003?pageNumber=1
| title = Jewish "intactivists" in U.S. stop circumcising
| access-date = 2007-11-03
| last = Chernikoff
| first = Helen
| date = 3 October 2007
| newspaper = Reuters
| archive-date = 27 December 2008
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081227025338/http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN22970720071003?pageNumber=1
| url-status = live
}}</ref><ref name="greenberg">{{Citation
 | last =Greenberg
 | first =Zoe
 | title =When Jewish Parents Decide Not to Circumcise
 | newspaper =The New York Times
 | date =25 July 2017
 | url =https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/25/well/family/cutting-out-the-bris.html
 | access-date =13 September 2017
 | archive-date =14 September 2017
 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20170914124825/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/25/well/family/cutting-out-the-bris.html
 | url-status =live
}}</ref><ref name="kasher">{{cite news
 | last =Kasher
 | first =Rani
 | title =It's 2017. Time to Talk About Circumcision
 | newspaper =Haaretz
 | location =Tel Aviv
 | language =en
 | date =23 August 2017
 | url =http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.808557
 | access-date =4 September 2017
 | archive-date =4 September 2017
 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20170904032317/http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.808557
 | url-status =live
}}</ref> They are assisted by a small number of [[Reform Judaism|Reform]], [[Liberal Judaism (United Kingdom)|Liberal]], and [[Reconstructionist Judaism|Reconstructionist]] rabbis, and have developed a welcoming ceremony that they call the ''[[Brit shalom (naming ceremony)|Brit shalom]]'' ("Covenant [of] Peace") for such children,<ref name="Kimmel" /><ref name="Jewish News" /> also accepted by [[Humanistic Judaism]].<ref name="greenberg" /><ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish-shalom.html
 |title=Celebrants of Brit Shalom
 |access-date=2007-10-03 |last=Reiss, MD
 |first=Dr. Mark
 |year=2006
 |publisher=Brit Shalom
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141213065752/http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish-shalom.html
 |archive-date=2014-12-13
}}
</ref>

===Middle Ages to the 19th century===
====Judaism and Christianity====
[[Thomas Aquinas]] in his ''[[Summa Theologica]]'' questioned why, if under Jewish doctrine circumcision removed [[original sin]], [[Jesus]] was circumcised&nbsp;– as Jesus had no original sin. Steve Jones suggests there is a theological tradition that Jesus regained his foreskin at the Ascension. "Had he failed to do so, the Saved would themselves have to be operated upon in Paradise so as not to be more perfect than their Saviour."<ref>{{cite book |author=Steve Jones |title=Y: the descent of men, Chapter 5 |year=2005 |publisher=Mariner Books |isbn=978-0-618-13930-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/ydescentofmen000jone |url-access=registration }}</ref>

The Jews were expelled from England by [[Edward I of England|Edward I]] in 1290, ostensibly over social tensions concerning [[usury]]. But the public imagination had been gripped by [[blood libel]] since at least the 12th century: "So pervasive was the belief that Jews circumcised their victims ... that Menasseh ben Israil, the Dutch Rabbi who sought from Cromwell the readmission of the Jews in 1656, had to dwell at considerable length in his ''Vindiciae Judaeorum'' at refuting the claim."<ref>{{cite book |author=James Shapiro |title=Shakespeare and the Jews |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BR4BxGfBqrIC&q=england%20expulsion%20jews%20circumcision&pg=PR5 |isbn=978-0-312-21689-4 |year=1998 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |access-date=25 October 2020 |archive-date=28 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428014658/https://books.google.com/books?id=BR4BxGfBqrIC&q=england+expulsion+jews+circumcision&pg=PR5 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 15th-century Spain, most [[Alhambra Decree|Jews and Muslims were expelled]] and the [[Spanish Inquisition]] monitored and prosecuted [[New Christian|converts to Christianity]] to ensure they were not [[Crypto-Judaism|secretly practising Judaism]], consorting with Jews or [[Judaizers|engaging in Jewish practices]] such as circumcision.<ref>{{cite book
|author=Henry Kamen
|author-link=Henry Kamen
|title=The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision.
|publisher=Yale University Press
|year=1997
|isbn=978-0-297-81719-2
}}</ref>

====Mesoamerican cultures====
{{See also|Bloodletting in Mesoamerica}}
In 1521, [[Hernán Cortés|Cortés]] defeated the [[Aztecs|Aztec empire]] in Mesoamerica, which was followed by a large influx of Spanish clergy, whose writings provide most of information about pre-conquest Aztec life and customs largely assembled from interviews with those who survived the invasion and subsequent epidemics, and their descendants. [[Diego Durán]], a Dominican friar, was convinced that the Aztecs were one of the [[lost tribes of Israel]], with a crucial piece of supporting evidence being that they had practised circumcision.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=193tKPdM-ykC&dq=%22diego+duran%22&pg=PR29  ''The History of the Indies of New Spain''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630132915/https://books.google.com/books?id=193tKPdM-ykC&pg=PR29&lpg=PR29&dq=%22diego+duran%22&source=bl&ots=5sUnkVzJaC&sig=O9N2_izOs4W0Hg39molb6-eyIUY&hl=en&ei=AzFHS6SiIsyHkQXxsdyDAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAcQ6AEwADgy#v=onepage&q=%22diego%20duran%22&f=false |date=30 June 2017 }}, Chapter 1 concerns the Jewish origins of the Aztecs, a very common idea at the time. [https://openlibrary.org/b/OL13741298M/Book_of_the_gods_and_rites Gods and Rite, Chapter 3] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200531031407/https://openlibrary.org/books/OL13741298M/Book_of_the_gods_and_rites |date=31 May 2020 }} deals with the associated idea of circumcision</ref>

So influential was this notion that 300 years later [[Hubert Howe Bancroft|Bancroft]] in his monumental ''Native Races''<ref name="Bancroft">{{cite book
 |author       = Bancroft, Hubert Howe
 |author-link  = Hubert Howe Bancroft
 |title        = The Native Races, Volume 2, Civilized Nations
 |year         = 1882
 |url          = http://collections.lib.ttu.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/hfwc&CISOPTR=2&CISOBOX=1&REC=7
 |access-date  = 2018-11-29 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110720060820/http://collections.lib.ttu.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=%2Fhfwc&CISOPTR=2&CISOBOX=1&REC=7
 |archive-date = 2011-07-20
 }}</ref> began his discussion of circumcision by writing: "Whether the custom of circumcision, which has been the great prop of argument in favor of the Jewish origin of the Aztecs, really obtained among these people, has been doubted by numerous authors," concluding that it probably existed in a "certain form among some tribes" (p278). The key being "a certain form", since Bancroft makes clear in a footnote that the majority of his sources, including [[Clavigero]], Ternaux-Compans, Carbajal Espinosa, Oviedo y Herrera, and especially [[José de Acosta|Acosta]], believed Durán and others "confounded the custom of drawing blood from the secret organs with circumcision", and "the incision on the prepuce and ear to have been mistaken for circumcision", adding that this [[Bloodletting in Mesoamerica|blood-letting rite]]<ref>It is now thought this ubiquitous Mesoamerican ritual dates back to the Olmecs. See [http://www.mesoweb.com/pari/publications/RT08/Bloodletting.pdf Olmec Bloodletting: An Iconographic Study] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090921165249/http://www.mesoweb.com/pari/publications/RT08/Bloodletting.pdf |date=21 September 2009 }}</ref> was "chiefly performed upon sons of great men" (p279). The case was not helped by the fact no reports of seeing a circumcised adult Aztec existed in the literature. Remondino says it is "a matter of controversy" whether the foreskin had actually been removed (p46).<ref name= "Remondino1891"/>

In regard to the Mayans, Bancroft says that in 1858 [[Brasseur de Bourbourg]] reported finding "traces"
<ref>In fact the term used is ''"restes déformés des rites antiques"'' or "deformed remnants of ancient rites" p35 [https://archive.org/stream/histoiredesnatio03bras/histoiredesnatio03bras_djvu.txt Histoire des nations civilisées du Mexique et de l'Amérique Centrale (1857-9)]</ref> of circumcision in the sources, despite [[Diego López de Cogolludo|Cogolludo]] having reported that "circumcision was unknown to the Indians of Yucatan" (pp279, 679).<ref name="Bancroft"/> But in 1864 Brasseur published his French translation of [[Diego de Landa]]'s recently recovered 1556 ethnographic manuscript, which decisively rejected the notion of Mayan circumcision, and in a footnote he acknowledged there had probably been a "mistake", an admission that never found its way into the English-language literature<ref>{{cite book
|title=Relation des choses de Yucatán de Diego de Landa
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=exorAAAAYAAJ
|page=162
|author1=Landa, Diego de
|year=1864
|isbn=978-1-145-37930-5
|access-date=24 August 2020
|archive-date=28 April 2021
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428014711/https://books.google.com/books?id=exorAAAAYAAJ
|url-status=live
}}</ref> although modern ethnography has long since understood the nature of these rituals.<ref>{{cite book
|author=Joralemon, D.
|chapter=Ritual Blood-Sacrifice among the Ancient Maya: Part I
|title=Primera Mesa Redonda de Palenque
|year=1974
|pages=59–76
|editor=Merle Green Robertson
|chapter-url=http://www.mesoweb.com/pari/publications/RT02/Joralemon1974.pdf
|access-date=11 January 2010
|archive-date=6 August 2020
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806031152/http://www.mesoweb.com/pari/publications/RT02/Joralemon1974.pdf
|url-status=live
}}</ref> However, the Aztecs and Mayans are included by many authors from other disciplines among the list of pre-modern people who practised circumcision.  Examples of such sources include UNAIDS,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.malecircumcision.org/media/documents/MC_Global_Trends_Determinants.pdf |title=Circumcision: Global Trends and Determinants of Prevalence, Safety and Acceptability |access-date=2010-01-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091122174032/http://www.malecircumcision.org/media/documents/MC_Global_Trends_Determinants.pdf |archive-date=2009-11-22 }}</ref> Kaplan,<ref>{{cite journal |author=Kaplan GW |title=Circumcision--an overview |journal=Curr Probl Pediatr |volume=7 |issue=5 |pages=1–33 |date=March 1977 |pmid=321186 }}</ref> and Weiss.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1080/00224496609550503 |last1=Weiss |first1=Charles |title=Motives for male circumcision among preliterate and literate peoples |journal=The Journal of Sex Research |year=1966 |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=69–88}}</ref>

====Later times====
Countries that do not circumcise have often held antipathy for those that do. Being circumcised was often seen as a sign of disgrace.<ref name="Remondino1891"/> According to Darby, it was also seen as a serious loss of erogenous tissue: "During the Renaissance and 18th century the centrality of the foreskin to male sexual function and the pleasure of both partners was recognised by anatomists Berengario da Carpi, Gabriello Fallopio and William Harvey, in popular sex manuals like Aristotle's ''master-piece'', and by physicians like John Hunter, who also appreciated the importance of the foreskin in providing the slack tissue needed to accommodate an erection."<ref name="darbymja">{{cite journal |last=Darby |first=Robert |date=August 2003 |title=Medical history and medical practice: persistent myths about the foreskin |journal=[[Medical Journal of Australia]] |volume=178 |issue=4 |pages=178–9 |publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]] |url=http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/178_04_170203/dar10676_fm.html |doi=10.5694/j.1326-5377.2003.tb05137.x |pmid=12580747 |s2cid=31875702 |access-date=4 January 2020 |archive-date=2 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110302175432/http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/178_04_170203/dar10676_fm.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

In 1650, English physician [[John Bulwer]] in his study of body modification, ''Anthropometamorphosis: Man Transform'd, or the Artificial Changeling'', wrote of the loss in sexual pleasure resulting from circumcision: "the part which hangeth over the end of the foreskin, is moved up and down in coition, that in this attrition it might gather more heat, and increase the pleasure of the other sexe; a contentation of which they [the circumcised] are defrauded by this injurious invention. For, the shortnesse of the prepuce is reckoned among the organical defects of the yard, … yet circumcision detracts somewhat from the delight of women, by lessening their titillation."  The English historian [[Edward Gibbon]], author of ''[[The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire]]'', referred to the practice as "a painful and often dangerous rite", and a "singular mutilation" practiced only by Jews and [[Turkish people|Turks]].