Those who believe that the foreskin is important for sexual pleasure are against circumcision. Others do not like circumcision because they believe it has no medical advantage, or that it is easy to clean under the foreskin, or that circumcision harms the penis or the mind. People who do not like circumcision of baby boys say doctors and parents should not make this decision. They say that the owner should choose when he is old enough to decide for himself. (However, it will hurt more if done at a later age.)
There are 5 large groups of circumcised men:
According to the CDC, the latest data (from ) on male circumcision in the United States show a 2.5% overall increase in prevalence in males aged 14 to 59 years between 2000 and 2010. In contrast, there has been a decline of 6.1% in newborn circumcisions. The newborn circumcision rate in the US dropped slightly from 83.3% in the 1960s to 77.2% in 2010. The main reason for this 6 point drop is most likely the much faster increase in the Hispanic population, the ethnic group having the lowest circumcision prevalence. The growing Hispanic population in the West accounts for most of the decrease in national prevalence. Because Hispanic and black individuals are over-represented in poorer demographics, the withdrawal of Medicaid funding for elective circumcision in 18 states is of concern to public health, as was also expressed by the authors of the CDC’s recent report. After controlling for other factors, states with Medicaid coverage had hospital circumcision rates 24 percentage points higher than states without such coverage. Many, but not all, private health insurance plans pay for circumcision. A study of 96,457 male babies in the state of Maryland found that 75% of new baby boys were circumcised before they left the hospital. More were circumcised in a religious ceremony or in a doctor's office later. With those boys included, 82% of baby boys in Maryland got circumcised. It was less common for Asian and Hispanic babies than for non-Asian and non-Hispanic babies.
In Islam and Judaism, male circumcision is commonly done for religious reasons.
In Judaism, religious law orders that baby boys be circumcised on the 8th day after their birth. This is required even if the 8th day after birth is Shabbat (Saturday). In the Jewish faith, circumcision is an important tradition because it represents the newly born baby being included in the covenant (or agreement) which God made with the prophet Abraham.
A "mohel" is someone who circumcises Jewish baby boys eight days after they are born in accordance with Jewish law. A knife is traditionally used for this, but a clamp is now sometimes used instead. Mohels are traditionally male, but most types of non-orthodox (not fully traditional) types of Judaism allow women to be mohels without restriction.
For Jews who observe religious law, the circumcision is performed at a ceremony called a Brit milah. Family, relatives and guests attend. Others, such as Reform Jews may choose to have the circumcision done in a hospital before the baby goes home. They may have a celebration afterwards, or after the birth of a baby girl for whom there is no ritual act.
In the Quran, no sura or ayat mention male or female circumcision. However, there are some injunctions of the prophet Muhammad that explain and command "only" male circumcision, as a "continuation" of Abrahamic/Hebraic tradition. For example, the prophet Muhammad said in a hadith that "Five are the acts which are part of "fitrah": Circumcision, clipping or shaving the pubic hair, cutting the nails, plucking or shaving the hair under the armpits and clipping (or shaving) the moustache".
Also, according to the Qur'an, Allah ordered Muhammad to follow the religion of Ibrahim (the Hebrew Abraham): "Then We inspired you: 'Follow the religion of Ibrahim, the upright in Faith'." —(Qur'an 16:123)
Many Islamic scholars say that is an important ritual and a symbolic step of purification along the lines of Abrahamic tradition. Most Shafi Islamic Jurists (judges) say that circumcision is required for men. It is an accepted tradition in almost all Islamic sects and among most Islamic scholars and theologians. Circumcision is also important within Islam because Islam claims to be the 'truth' and the 'continuation' of the old and true message of Ibrahim/Abraham. According to Islam, God's covenant with Abraham was passed on to Muhammad, whose mission was to continue the covenant. The covenant is continued, according to Islam, through several steps, including male circumcision. The Quran discusses this covenant in detail in several places, including sura 14 (Ibrahim – "Abraham").
There are two hadiths which are linked to the acceptance of male circumcision in Islam. They also show how circumcision may have been used to keep track of dates in tribal Arabia:
Ibn Jubayr Sa'id reported: "Ibn `Abbas was asked the following question: 'How was it with you, [when] the Prophet, peace be upon him, died?,' he said, 'I was circumcised at that particular time because the men were usually only circumcised when they became sexually mature.'"
[Sahih al-Bukhari No. 6299]
And further, Ibn `Abbas reported: "When the Prophet, peace be upon him died, I was circumcised at that particular time."
[Sahih al-Bukhari No. 6300]
Along with being an important rite of passage, circumcision may have helped people keep track of dates and place events into the correct time and place.
Moirai
The Moirai (The Fates) were the three goddesses of destiny in Greek mythology. They were Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos ().
They controlled the life and destiny of everyone. Clotho spins the thread of life (begins a person's or creature's life), Lachesis measures it (looks at the how long it currently is), and Atropos cuts the thread. When the thread is cut the person dies. The Moirai are capable of destroying an immortal.
The decisions of the Moriae about a person's life cannot be changed. Even Zeus is powerless to change their will.
The parents of the Moirai are not surely known. Some said they were the daughters of Zeus and the Titaness Themis, or more likely of primordial beings like Nyx, Chaos or .
Their Roman equivalent were the Parcae.
Sources: D'Aulaire's book of Greek Myths
Wikisource
Wikisource – "The Free Library" – is a project by Wikimedia. Its goal is to make a free wiki library of source texts. It has translations into many languages.
It began on November 24, 2003. Its name was "Project Sourceberg" (a play on words for Project Gutenberg), and its URL was http://sources.wikipedia.org. On December 6, 2003, members wanted to change the name to "Wikisource", but the URL was not moved to http://wikisource.org until July 23, 2004.
Whaling
Whaling is the practice of hunting whales. This is done to get meat and oil, called blubber. Hunters of whales are called whalers. Whaling has been done at least since 3000 BC.
Many communities on the coast have done whaling for food for a long time. They have also killed stranded whales.
Industrialisation started in the 17th century and also affected whaling. Special ships were built for whaling, and whales were hunted until they were almost extinct.
As technology improved and demand for the seemingly vast resources remained high, far more whales were killed than were born. In the late 1930s more than 50,000 whales were killed each year. By the middle of the 20th century, there were not enough whales and they were at risk of becoming extinct. In 1986, the International Whaling Commission introduced a moratorium on commercial whaling so that whales might recover.
This moratorium was successful, and whale stocks recovered. There is a debate about whaling in general. Countries which are in favor of whaling want to do away with the moratorium, so they can again hunt whales as they did before. Countries and environmental groups say that whaling is immoral and should be banned, and that stocks have not yet recovered sufficiently.