[shimei]

Originally Posted by LostInCyberLand

I have to say the more I read about the horror stories of what can go wrong with circumcision the more I find myself agreeing that circumcision of men and women is completely immoral and unethical.

When I read that the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation is fast tracking male circumcision in Africa, as a false promise to stop AIDS, I can't help but wonder about the ethics of all this when everyone knows that circumcision doesn't stop AIDS, only a condom does. So why not use a condom and put the money spent on unnecessary and costly circumcisions to better use?

A quick read through of the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation and I came across this passage which says how they are using a barbaric device the PrePex/ Shang Ring to facilitate this surgery in countries with a shortage of trained health professionals, with the WHO justifying the use of this device because it is "easy to use". To my mind it is a stone age device that has no place in the modern world.

I have a few questions, and comments, anybody feel free to answer or respond.

1) From where do morals and ethics originate? Who sets the standards of morality (e.g., society, God etc).

2) Are you standing firm LostinCyberland that only a condom prevents AIDS? Are you against educating people on the subject of morality, e.g., monogamous relationships, and b) are you for/or against enforcing any standard of morality upon those that disagree? Note: I am not suggesting only monogamous relationships are moral at this point.

3) Is a stone age device limited only to your example, or would "rubber" qualify when using it to promote immoral behavior? To put it bluntly, do you consider it both unethical or immoral to have sexual relations with a close evolutionary relative (monkey), or is it "right" by the use of a "modern" device such as a condom? Or using Mark's standard of consent, if only the monkey consents through certain gesturing, will the modern condom prove ethical and moral?

What interests me is your view on circumcision. From a religious perspective, the sign of a covenant (circumcision) had no saving power in itself, as though any such superficial identification could, but rather it was the inward reality to which it aligned and corresponded to.

Shim