Please, don’t judge all Catholics by Bricker. The vast majority of my family are Catholic (I’m a lapsed Catholic), and trust me, we don’t act this way.
I can’t imagine WHY he’d defend the mohels in this case, since it’s a sensible law (just inform the parents, for crissakes), or it’s just that he gets off on nitpicking things to death so it’s all about him.
Like a sir.
I object to your mendacious mischaracterisation of crucial medical procedures, my friend! Why, lobectomy and pneumonoectomy can be lifesaving!
I didn’t say that I won’t condone any practice that is justified by tradition, but if the only argument you have in favor of your practice is tradition, I am hardly moved.
So, you’re against Kali worshippers and followers of Moloch practice their religion?
('Cause I sure am!)
If your religion causes you to commit illegal acts, something had better give.
Oh, Trin, you play right into his hands. Watch as he explains to you in condescending detail why what the rabbis are doing isn’t illegal. Certainly, illegal actions would be swiftly and heavily dealt with.
Way to take the high road.
At least he didn’t call me an atheist.
That’s why I said his Catholicism. The implication is that he’s not all Catholics the way these crazies are not all Jews. When I admit to having no respect for much of the nonsense put forth by the priest run hierarchy, I highly respect the work many wonderful American nuns do in some of our poorest communities. I have no idea why he’s defending them either. This is a stupid practice that most Jews don’t do.
I’m with Bricker on this one.
There are plenty of reasons to flip out about the disgusting behavior of the mohels described in the OP. And “Traditional religious practice” is something that society considers an acceptable excuse form many behaviors that would not normally be permitted (though unlike Bricker, I don’t think this should ever be the case, and this particular unhygenic example is one of the worst exceptions to common sense I can think of.) But folks are loading this thread with sniggering innuendo and implication that the mohels are paedophiles who justify their perversion with their religion. Such juvenile arguments not only distract from the actual point of the thread, but also reek of anti-semitism.
Please find where I said that mohels are pedophiles.
No, what’s “kinda sad” is how the “nice Catholic boy” comes rushing to the defense of religious men who like to suck babies’ dicks.
Why is that? Because it’s done by a religious leader? Tell that to all the boys your religious leaders did nothing wrong to.
Context, moron. There are legitimate reasons to get in a car and drive somewhere. “But my favorite book says so!” is not a legitimate reason to suck a baby’s dick.
Indeed. And keep at it, because we all know that the only think wrong with grown men sucking the dicks of infants is that it may lead to people discussing it…or maybe even pointing out just how wrong it is.
Nope.
I’m pretty sure you’d get the same outrage if a small non-denominational hospital had a policy of orally sucking a portion of a baby’s penis right after circumcision was performed, was told that that had to give prior knowledge to the parents that they were doing it and the possible health risks involved, and refused to do so.
This is not the only reason why many of us, Jews and non-Jews alike, despise the Haredim and their fellow ultra-orthodox. They’re sexist porkers who adhere to a lot of truly stupid laws including this one.
Some of the more vile things they done in recent memory:
Complaining about women at the Wailing Wall:
Shield pedophiles in their community:
Scream at little girls in Israel attending school:
The penis thing is just the latest remarkably stupid thing they’ve defended. They call little girls prostitutes, refuse to let pedophiles get the prosecution they deserve and throw stones at women at the Western Wall. They should find a fucking island where they can imose their idiotic, backwards, women-hating nonsense on themselves and leave the rest of us alone.
If I may return to the article (although it is a *lovely *hijack), am I correct in reading it as the City of New York is treating the ritual circumcision as a medical procedure? Things are a bit hazy from time & anesthesia, but I seem to recall signing all sorts of informed consent documents for all kinds of procedures when 'Lil Andrew was born.
If the City of New York has always treated rabbinical circumcision as a medical procedure, this would just be a paperwork change. However, if the City is only now starting to treat rabbinical circumcision as a medical procedure, I could easily see the fear that this would set precedent to allow the City to regulate all areas of the practice. Requiring practitioners to be medically certified would not be a large leap, and might present a serious burden for some Orthodox rabbis.
The slippery slope can be a scary thing.
LavenderBlue: is Torah also garbage?
Parts of it, yes. I did not particularly find Rashi all that logical when forced to read his commentary in the sixth grade. I find many ultra orthodox and orthodox Jewish practices garbage including niddah, the thank god you’re a man prayer and the times I was forced to wear skirts in below zero weather. One of my great grandmothers happily shucked off her shydel and ate ham and shrimp with gusto once she got here from Hungary and away from her parents.
Your point? How many stupid religious practices do you feel the need to defend? What’s next? An argument in favor of honor killings or female circumcision?
:dubious:
Parts of the bible are really dumb and I daresay so are parts of the koran. We’d all be better off if most religions modernized and left the stupid stuff back in dark ages where it belongs.
Perhaps Bricker could suggest some sort of paper towel tube test to determine the legality of sucking blood from an infant’s penis.
That should settle it.
Come on, guys. We shouldn’t be picking on poor Bricker. I mean, those infants were clearly seducing the old men into sucking their dicks. The poor mohels were powerless to resist such tempting cries and the soiled diapers.
Is there a G-d?
Did He give the Law to Moses?
Look, I am not defending the refusal to comply with a very reasonable law.
I am attacking the juvenile sniggering, and I see now that the paper towel tube has made an appearance, we’re in sight of the lowest rung of the ladder here.
Do you idiots actually believe there is pedophilia involved here? Honest answer: yes or no?
I don’t know about god. If you really knew anything about Judaism you’d know that most Jews believe that such a thing is unknowable and we should really concentrate on behaving decently during the here and now rather than worrying about the hereafter. You know. Decent human behavior as in not stoning women praying at the wailing wall, shielding pedophiles and calling eight year olds prostitutes. Something many of the smugly assholish Haredim and their ilk seem unable to do as of late.
What other practices do you think are acceptable in the name of religion? Shielding Nazi war criminals as Catholic church officials did? Clitorectomy as some Muslims still practice? Tormenting little girls on their way to school as the Haredim did in Israel?
Since you’re demanding we answer your questions you should answer ours.
The sniggering is deserved when the practice is this stupid.