CIRCUMCISION AND LAW.

Circumcision and law.

 

 

 

There exist laws restricting or regulating circumcision, some dating
back to ancient times.

 

In a number of modern states, circumcision is presumed to be legal,
but under certain circumstances, more general laws, such as laws a
bout assault or child custody, may sometimes be interpreted as
applying to situations involving circumcision.

 

Some countries have placed restrictions on circumcision.

 

HISTORY.

 

There are ancient religious requirements for circumcision.

 

The Hebrew Bible commands Jews to circumcise their male children

on the eighth day of life, and to circumcise their male slaves.

(Genesis 17:11-12).

 

Laws banning circumcision are also ancient.

 

The ancient Greeks prized the foreskin and disapproved of the

Jewish custom of circumcision.

Maccabees, 1:60–61 states that King Antiochus IV of Syria, the

occupying power of Judea in 170 BCE, outlawed circumcision on

penalty of death.

 

One of the grievances leading to the Maccabean Revolt.

 

According to the Historia Augusta, the Roman emperor Hadrian
issued a decree banning circumcision in the empire, and some
modern scholars argue that this was a main cause of the Jewish
Bar Kokhba revolt of 132 CE.

 

 The Roman historian Cassius Dio, however, made no mention of

such a law, and blamed the Jewish uprising instead on Hadrian's

decision to rebuild Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina, a city dedicated

to Jupiter.

 

Antoninus Pius permitted Jews to circumcise their own sons.

 

However, he forbade the circumcision of non-Jews that were either

foreign-slaves or non-Jewish members of the household, contrary

to Genesis 17:12.

He also made it illegal for a man to convert to Judaism.

 

Antoninus Pius exempted the Egyptian priesthood from the

otherwise universal ban on circumcision.

 

 

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumcision_and_law#England_and_Wales 

 

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