CLAIM: Atheist Christopher Hitchens decries the act of circumcision as “the sexual mutilation of small boys.”[1] Is this the case?

RESPONSE: Theologically, circumcision was given as a sign to distinguish the Jews as God’s people. Medically, however, circumcision may have had a specific purpose. Fawver and Overstreet note that cancer of the penis is significantly higher in non-circumcised males. They write,

This is thought to be due primarily to the accumulation of smegma, a paste of bacteria and dead cells trapped under the foreskin. Statistically, the rate of penile cancer in men living in Brazil (where most are uncircumcised) is almost 70 times higher than in Israel (where most are circumcised).[2]

God commanded the Jews to be circumcised on the “eighth day” (Gen. 17:12). But, why the eighth? As it turns out, a baby’s blood clots the best eight days after birth. Prothrombin, which helps clot the blood, is produced by Vitamin K. Fawver and Overstreet write,

After birth prothrombin decreases so that by the third day it is only 30 percent of normal. Circumcision on the third day could result in a devastating hemorrhage. The intestinal bacteria finally start their task of manufacturing vitamin K, and the prothrombin subsequently begins to climb. On day eight, it actually overshoots to 110 percent of normal, leveling off to 100 percent on day nine and remaining there for the rest of a person’s healthy life. Therefore the eighth day was the safest of all days for circumcision to be performed… Today vitamin Κ (Aqua Mephyton) is routinely administered to newborns shortly after their delivery, and this eliminates the clotting problem. However, before the days of vitamin Κ injections, a 1953 pediatrics textbook recommended that the best day to circumcise a newborn was the eighth day of life![3]

Egyptians, Edomites, Ammonites, and Moabites also practiced adult circumcision, but Israel practiced infant circumcision. This might be because this act was less physically and psychologically traumatic for the person at infancy.[4] Moreover, the Jews were commanded to use flint knives to circumcise the male babies (Ex. 4:25; Josh. 5:2), which were knives chipped away from stone. Fawver and Overstreet write, “Bacteria and viruses cannot grow in rock.”[5] In other words, Flint knives may have been the most hygienic way to perform this surgery.