California Circumcision War

Circumcise a California baby boy and be handcuffed, arrested, prosecuted, convicted, jailed and fined.  Jews, Muslims and Christians beware.

This November, San Francisco voters will decide on a controversial ballot measure that would make the circumcision of boys under the age of 18 illegal --- and a war over circumcision has already been declared.

JULY 28 UPDATE: Religious Californians celebrating a victory as circumcision ban is struck down by a San Francisco judge.

OCTOBER 2011 UPDATE: Jerry Brown signs California Male Circumcision Bill into Law. 

The mere fact that anti-circumcision legislation is on its way to the ballot box has religious adherents outraged, not just in California but worldwide.

Opponents of the shocking bill view it as a violation of the Constitution's protection of religious rights --- and an aggressive attack on religion in California.

"Circumcision is a fundamental aspect of Jewish ritual practice and Jewish identity. While we certainly hope the prospect of its being enacted is remote, the precedent it would set and the message it would send would be terrible," declared Nathan Diament, director of the Orthodox Union Institute for Public Affairs.

Matthew Hess, who founded 'MGM Bill', a San Diego group responsible for the anti-circumcision legislation, is trying to 'protect' boys from diminished sexual sensitivity as adults --- which he claims he now personally suffers.

Last fall, 'MGM Bill' decided to bypass Congress and go straight to voters, gathering 12,000 signatures in San Francisco to get the measure placed on the November 2011 ballot.

If it passes, any Jew, Christian or Muslim who circumcises a boy under the age of 18 in San Francisco will be outlawed as a criminal and face a $1,000 fine and/or imprisonment.

The Jewish community is responding with loud defiance to the San Francisco ballot initiative, with denunciations from across America.

The American Jewish Committee called it a "direct assault on Jewish religious practice... unprecedented in American Jewish life."

The Orthodox Union said the measure is "likely illegal... patently discriminatory against Jews and Muslims."

The San Francisco Jewish Community Relations Council organized a coalition of religious, medical, legal and political leaders to oppose the ballot measure.

The fight against the San Francisco anti-circumcision ballot measure has brought Muslim organizations into the JCRC-led coalition, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, whose position is that "an attack on one religion is an attack on all religions."

Mohel Rabbi Gil Leeds, director of the Chabad Center of the University of California, Berkeley, declared that "Jews from across the spectrum of Jewish observance, as well as many non-Jews, have responded in shock at this attempt to undermine our basic human rights as parents and as Jews."

Los Angeles Jewish leader David Lehrer declared, "It takes the notion of the Mommy State to a ridiculous extreme. It probably touches upon being anti-Semitic."

Proponents and opponents of a ban on circumcision argue over the health benefits and legal aspects of the practice.

Dr. Mark Glasser, a retired Bay Area OBGYN who estimates that he has performed hundreds of circumcisions, said "To say it has no medical benefit and so should be outlawed is completely untrue."

Glasser notes that the WHO supports circumcision as a preventative measure against HIV transmission, and several CDC studies show the same result.

Joel Paul, professor of constitutional law and associate dean of the University of California Hastings School of Law, says the law might not survive a court challenge, which may come before November 8, 2011.

"This proposition would let the majority decide religious practice for a religious group. It's not part of our politics. No one should have to go into an election and be asked to defend their religion," the professor stated.

Opponents say the measure violates the Constitution's protection of the free exercise of religion, and ropes the state into religious matters by putting the state in the position of judging whether a certain religious practice is allowed.

Across Jewish culture, customs vary, but not circumcision. The Covenant between infant boys and God is the same everywhere. Commanded by God to Abraham, circumcision signifies fidelity to the Lord and has been a central part of Jewish tradition ever since.

JCRC Associate Director Abby Michelson Porth said, "We've got 86 coalition members on board. They are coming in faster than we can process them all. These are medical authorities, civil liberties scholars, national Muslim and Jewish organizations, HIV researchers, infectious disease specialists, rabbis and imams."

The Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and the national arms of Jewish denominations are joining the coalition, which includes the Muslim American Society, the San Francisco Interfaith Council, the Islamic Networks Group and Catholic Archbishop George Niederauer.

Archbishop Niederauer condemned the anti-circumcision initiative.

"As a religious leader, I can only view with alarm the prospect that this misguided initiative would make it illegal for Jews and Muslims who practice their religion to live in San Francisco, for that is what the passage of such a law would mean," the archbishop said.

Political figures are endorsing the campaign as well, among them five past and present members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and California State Senator Mark Leno.

Senator Leno did not hold back in condemning the anti-circumcision measure.

"On its face it is clearly unconstitutional. Every legal assessment I have seen confirms that. Unfortunately, our initiative process allows for unconstitutional measures to be put before voters. I am well aware that circumcision is a frontline defense against HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases," said Leno.

The fight against the San Francisco ballot measure has brought a number of outraged Muslim organizations together.

Maha El Genaidi, executive director of the Islamic Networks Group, said: "Circumcision is required for Muslim males in emulation of the Prophet Abraham. A ban that specifically targets a religious practice of Muslims and that has been proven to be medically beneficial is a violation of First Amendment rights that guarantee all Americans the right to religious freedom."

From a Jewish religious perspective, circumcision was ordered by God, so it requires no independent justification. Likewise for Muslims, who also circumcise according to religious tradition.

"Circumcision is not going to go away because of this small, determined, angry group," said Dr. Samuel Kunin, a Los Angeles doctor who insists that, if the ballot measure passes, he will travel north to personally perform the first illegal San Francisco circumcision.

The San Francisco-based Jewish Community Relations Council has established the Committee for Parental Choice and Religious Freedom, complete with a website which they invite everyone to visit.

The circumcision war in California has, evidently, only just begun.