Looks like circumcision could be banned.

[melthebell]

I wasn't commenting about his views on circumcision, simply on his rather depressing opinion that forum debate generally is pointless.

 

and youve got 190 posts in a year, prolly most in the past 2 weeks, youve seen nothing

 

when you see the same people with the same views on the same subjects day in day out for years and years then you know

[quisquose]

I wasn't commenting about his views on circumcision, simply on his rather depressing opinion that forum debate generally is pointless.

 

Indeed.

 

I engage in debate because I actually want to change my mind, about everything, because I find the process stimulating.

 

My visits to Internet forums is, in effect, an invitation to do just that. Change my mind about something. And I often do.

 

The only people who complain about forum debate being pointless come from people who refuse to budge themselves. It is an open declaration of that fact.

 

The claim that debate is futile because nobody is going to change their minds is often made on the religious threads, by theists, because it is they that refuse to entertain the possibility.

[aliceBB]

and youve got 190 posts in a year, prolly most in the past 2 weeks, youve seen nothing

 

when you see the same people with the same views on the same subjects day in day out for years and years then you know

 

 

You know nothing about me so please don't assume things. My posts on SF are not my only experience of forum discussion. Good debate is stimulating in itself as there's an art to argument and it can alter people's views - unless they are hidebound and convinced they are always right. (Mr Shaw is a classic example of that. I challenge anyone to cite an example of a post where he admits he was wrong about something, or changes his mind).

 

Fortunately most people engage in discussion with a more open attitude.

[six45ive]

This is a good video on the subject.

[MrSmith]

If I had a belief in God I would find it puzzling that God would create us and then leave it to us to fix the mistakes God made, I would think God would fix Gods own mistakes.

[Jeffrey Shaw]

If I had a belief in God I would find it puzzling that God would create us and then leave it to us to fix the mistakes God made, I would think God would fix Gods own mistakes.

Wrong. Mankind is tasked by the Creator with making physical change to the World.

There's no mistakes. We all have the choice of good or bad and of obedience/disobedience of law.

[MrSmith]

Wrong. Mankind is tasked by the Creator with making physical change to the World.

There's no mistakes. We all have the choice of good or bad and of obedience/disobedience of law.

 

So God intentionally gave human males foreskins that needed painfully chopping off, that’s sadistic.

[Cyclone]

The law of the land supercedes religious law. Disobeying the law of the land will result in punishment from the state.

And this discussion is about whether the law of the land should make the mutilation of children in this particular way illegal.

 

IMO any argument that relies on religious law as a justification for this behaviour is extremely weak and should be summarily discussed.

[Jeffrey Shaw]

So God intentionally gave human males foreskins that needed painfully chopping off, that’s sadistic.

1. Not painfully, no.

2. Not sadistic, either; only humans have human emotions.

3. Adam was born circumcised. [Q: Did he have a navel, though?]

[Jeffrey Shaw]

The law of the land supercedes religious law. Disobeying the law of the land will result in punishment from the state.

And this discussion is about whether the law of the land should make the mutilation of children in this particular way illegal.

 

IMO any argument that relies on religious law as a justification for this behaviour is extremely weak and should be summarily discussed.

It's irrelevant. Circumcision would continue wholly unaffected, just as under Communist Russia's equivalent prohibition.