Why religious circumcision?

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I didn't even know it was a religious thing. Most mothers I know get it done cause they don't want their kid to be the stinky pissy kid in school with all kinds of bacterial infections going on down there. I'm told that it's quite common for women to get infections going with an uncircumcised man so that's why it's considered normal to get it done to your child right away now. *shrug*

I expect it depends on the particular doctrines they've been raised to believe. Again I count myself lucky that they didn't teach me about hell. One of the teachers said that if we were good then we'd go to heaven, but if not then "we're not so sure." So all I thought I had to face was losing my ticket to the afterlife for the crime of "harbouring" my entirely reasonable doubt.

I'm also lucky that they didn't tell me that my inner thoughts and feelings had to be kind all the time. By the time I read about that (in a paper written by "born again" Christians), I'd already shaken off most of religion's influence, and took them for the extremists they probably are. I'd also studied psychology and psychiatry a little, and immediately saw how unhealthy it would be for anybody to feel guilty about their feelings. One lady they'd "saved" was begging forgiveness for having fantasies about beating up her neighbours for constantly making tons of noise that was driving her nuts. Thing is, she didn't do anything wrong. I sometimes have "evil" thoughts about getting revenge on people who have walked over me, but I don't let that worry me at all. It's what you do that matters, not how you feel from time to time, and I suspect the people who try to keep their conscious thoughts ultra-pure are the most dangerous in the long run.

I think you're confusing America with The World in your definition of "normal" here. America has roughly 6% of the world's land and 4.25% of its population.

Women can get bacterial infections for a wide variety of reasons, as can men. The key thing here from a relationship point of view is to only date people who wash frequently and effectively. Also maybe put some faith in condoms early in a relationship if you're not 100% sure? You'd think this would be common sense, if not Darwinism in action (surely the B.O. would be a clue?), but apparently not.

According to the BMJ the overall benefits of male circumcision are "arbitrary". Their advice on the subject is an interesting read, see Word from BMJ, yo

I'm generally pretty pro-feminism as I believe women should be free to manage their own bodies as they see fit. But that works both ways round. Whether I choose to have a foreskin should be up to me and none of your business. Indeed it could be argued that current rules, which require the agreement of both parents, are still discriminatory from a gender perspective unless of course both parents are male.

There's also an element of gender discrimination here in the way men are being shamed for the natural shape of their bodies, when I don't see any apology for the similar risks with female genitalia. Not exactly doing a great job of keeping everything separate, are we Miss Pissflaps? Would you like some forced surgery as a kid to correct that? [I'm really not sure how, but the theoretical comparison still stands].

Or should we simply stick to dating people who are clean, considerate, and generally not skanky?

All a man has to do is pull their skin back in the shower and wash underneath it. All a mother has to do is teach the child that area is important to stay clean. I dont see moms cutting kids ears off because theyre not easy to clean and they can do without ears. There are some secretions produced under the foreskin which can keep the spot moist and gather bacteria, which is mostly because the spot isnt cleaned often enough or thoroughly enough with lots of soap.

I agree with condoms, also once the woman is infected, all their partners need to follow the treatment she is given for her infections because they can be spread bac and forth.

Following poster: skanks have a right to be alive and respected, as well as loved and they contribute to helping womankind, the prostitutes do at least.

Me too, i got into psychology and thats one of my concerns too about religious people and what they go through. I'd say this doesnt even limit to being a strictly religious thing, people are reluctant and guilty about imagining revenge but i read it's actually beneficial to imagine it, as long as you dont plan to actually do it and dont harm anyone.
obsessing over thoughts staying pure is exhausting and unhealthy. I had a friend who was doing that, but i think it was more so an ocd problem. Regardless of the cause though to feed yourself guilt and fear constantly about thoughts is not a good place to be.

Right, I think what does the damage is when a person believes their thoughts too much, or when they get engulfed in little else but negative ideas and allow themselves to get morbid. To be fair, this commandment to somehow be "pure of thought" isn't confined to extreme religionists. There are loads of self-styled mind gurus with books and blogs to show us all how to banish negative thinking and turn bad thoughts into good ones. I'm pretty sure that the reason why a lot of us see it as phoney is because it is phoney. I don't think anybody can turn themselves into a happier, "better" person by trying to repress every ugly idea that come into their heads.

Yep, and one shouldn't always be happy, that's an unreasonable milestone.

My use of the term "skanky" is based on the British definition, i.e. scruffy, dirty, down-at-heel, grubby, unwashed.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictio ... ish/skanky

Sprinkling holy water in a Catholic church? That practice is called "asperging".

And the person whose job it is to sprinkle the holy water is an....asperger!

Seriously. Thats what the word "asperger" literally means!