Reply #119: To end all the bickering here, it's all about HYGINE.

[joshcryer]

This came up once before, and the essential point that I made was that this is about HYGINE. I find it highly unlikely that the results would be the same in western countries, because, you know, we have access to clean water, and bathe daily with antibacterials and so on. However, in places like Africa, obviously they don't have this, and it is a known fact (if not common sense) that foreskin requires more care and cleaning than a lack of it (yes I know that foreskin creates anti-bacterial secretions, but that only goes so far, as this study shows).

A lot of old "rituals" are geniunely the result of practices realized to be clean. Chopping off the foreskin isn't anymore "ritualistic" than washing ones hands before eating.