# Is mutilation of children a defensible religious custom? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 10, 2006, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mutilation-of-children-a-defensible-religious-custom/343891 "2006-02-10T18:56:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2006, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mutilation-of-children-a-defensible-religious-custom/343891/21 "2006-02-11T02:16:51Z")
Just for a bit of background, it should be pointed out that the Shi’a religious hiearchy has been trying to stamp this sort of thing out for ages. I’m fairly certain it is now in fact illegal in Iran. It seems to have started out as cultural accretion from Turkic tribesmen that merged ritual tribal machismo with Ashura passion plays, spreading to Iraq on a large scale in the 19th century ( I believe, have to doublecheck my sources when I get home ). Even the common Arab practice ( similarily culturally rooted ) of face-slapping as an expression of grief during Ashura has been condemned by clerics at times. As noted this sort of ritual mutilation is actually pretty widespread throughout history and the world, from the Sun Dance once practiced by some Plains Amerindian tribes to the self-flagellation of Christian penitents. - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2006, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mutilation-of-children-a-defensible-religious-custom/343891/22 "2006-02-11T02:34:55Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > … I might as well say Macintosh’s suck… Hey dems fightin words! Seriously, one must give religious practices a wide berth. Change, if and when it comes, can only come out of the communities themselves. External forces will be resisted; legislations against it will only force it underground. Experience with female genital mutilation has shown the value of the [softer sell.](http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0405/p06s01-woaf.html?s=hns) > [@](#): > > The sea-change in Senegal is being credited to a slow but steady program of human rights education that allows villagers to make up their own minds about whether to abandon female circumcision. Spearheaded by a local rights agency called Tostan, the program’s success is proving so eye-catching that the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is endorsing it as a model. > > “The Tostan approach is working because it’s a holistic approach, and it works with communities,” says Lalla Toure, UNICEF’s regional adviser for women’s health. “The starting point is not female genital mutilation; it’s about rights, it’s about health, it’s about development. We think that’s the best approach.” ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2006, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mutilation-of-children-a-defensible-religious-custom/343891/23 "2006-02-11T02:49:33Z")
I’d also point out that in the U.S. circumcision (especially back when I was born) was done more as a secular thing than a religious thing. Obviously circumcision has a religious background, but my parents were not particularly religious nor were either of them of the religious opinion that circumcision was a big deal. In fact one guy my age in my church didn’t get circumcised until he was 18 and it was never a big deal within the church. And he did it for what he said were aesthetic reasons. And many of my friends grew up in completely non-religious households and they were all circumcised. There seems to have been a fairly misguided notion among parents and even doctors in the U.S. that circumcision was just better for the child because of hygiene reasons. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mutilation-of-children-a-defensible-religious-custom/343891.md?page=1)