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Forced circumcision


Forced circumcision refers to circumcision of males who have not given their consent to the procedure. In a biblical context the term is used especially in relation to Paul the Apostle and his polemics against the forced circumcision of gentile Christians. The most common form of forced circumcision is performed widely in Israel and the United States, where it is known as neonatal circumcison. This form of circumcision involves the circumcison of a male newborn. Although their parents may consent to it, the males themselves do not, therefore making it forced. Among adults, forced circumcisions have occurred in a wide range of situations, most notably in the compulsory conversion of non-Muslims to Islam and the forced circumcision of Teso, Turkana and Luo men in Kenya, as well as the abduction of South African teenage boys to so-called circumcision schools ("bush schools"). In South Africa, custom allows uncircumcised Xhosa-speaking men past the age of circumcision (i.e., 25 years or older) to be overpowered by other men and forcibly circumcised.

In medieval England and Europe, the growing persecution of Jews came to be accompanied by freely invented stories of forced circumcisions and even murders of Christian boys. Similarly, there are examples from India that stories of forced circumcisions have been fabricated or exaggerated to incriminate Muslims.

1 Maccabees relates the story of how Mattathias (ca. 166 BC) forcibly circumcised the sons of Jewish parents who had abandoned the rite. Forced circumcision of Gentiles by Jews is attested from the second century BC onwards. In 125 BC John Hyrcanus conquered Edom, which the Romans called Idumea; and the Idumeans were converted to Judaism. As reported by Josephus, circumcision was required of the Idumeans as a token of their acceptance of Judaism:


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