It is no longer, if it ever truly was, a strictly medical procedure. We now know that the practice does not curtail masturbation, and that doctors have a large financial stake in keeping this unnecessary surgery going. These statistics are very confounding when one considers that in Great Britain, by contrast, only one percent of the males currently undergo this ritual cutting. The reality is that we are the last major nation on Earth to engage in widespread nonreligious circumcision.
Circumcision is one of the oldest operations on record.
The Egyptians performed it more than 5000 years ago. The Hebraic practice is believed to have originated with Abraham, who circumcised himself at age 99 following a divine revelation. He then circumcised his son Ishmael and all the males of his household, including his slaves. When Isaac was born, he was circumcised on the eighth day - creating the sacred ritual still followed today. Those who take the Bible literally are unlikely to be swayed by current thinking.