Religious groups may claim long traditions, but similar rituals of scarification or baby tattooing or sacrifice would not be tolerated.
Claims that some circumcised as children might eventually benefit medically must be counterbalanced by the reality that circumcision procedures sometimes lead to infection or sudden death. Even one such accident, or a single adult claiming the procedure was a violation, should be sufficient to ban the painful rite as child abuse.
In respect to culture & religion, youth should enjoy freedom to choose their own path and religion upon becoming adult. Adults can snip-off bits from their own bodies. But it seems to me very wrong that anyone be allowed to injure permanently the genitals of babies & children.
Children should not be medically disfigured with no informed choice. The procedure breaks a key rule of Hippocrates:
Do No Harm.
This is a civil & human rights issue -- in my opinion, circumcising vulnerable young people is unsupportable & should be made a serious crime.
