Ridiculing Our Religious Roots

San Francisco is set to vote on criminalizing circumcision. Is this yet another attempt to discredit the Bible, anti-Semitism—or both?

Is this blatant anti-Semitism or is it “just” another in a never-ending series of efforts to demonize the Judeo-Christian origins of the United States and legislate them out of existence? A movement in California appears to be both.

Criminalizing circumcision

A new bill received enough local support to appear on the November ballot in San Francisco. It would criminalize the circumcision of male babies. Each violation of the proposed law would be punished by a fine of $1,000.

Backers are calling it the MGM bill; the acronym standing for Male Genital Mutilation. This outrageously compares the sign God Himself gave Abraham—a sign practiced respectfully for thousands of years—to the grotesque and repugnant practice of female genital mutilation, the purpose of which is to reduce or eliminate a woman’s enjoyment of sexual intercourse. In addition to the toll this takes on the emotional lives of the women on whom this is practiced, there are significant health risks and no health benefits to the mutilation.

Conversely, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have published research showing major health benefits to male circumcision, with negligible risks when performed under reasonable conditions.

Discrediting the Bible with a comic book?

This is yet another effort to discredit the Bible and Judeo-Christian culture by casting them as barbaric and cruel. But there is more to the story than that.

A bizarre comic book has been published by Matthew Hess and his group MGM Bill to support the San Francisco legislation. The title character and hero of the comic is blond-haired, Aryan-looking “Foreskin Man” (you can’t make this stuff up …). More disturbingly, the villain is “Monster Mohel” (mohel is the Hebrew term for a man trained to perform circumcisions). The imagery in the comic book is grossly anti-Semitic, as can be seen from the cover.

According to the World Health Organization, 69 percent of all circumcised men in the world are Muslim, not Jewish. And over 90 percent of the men circumcised in the United States are not Jewish! Yet the comic book targets Jews. So clearly there is much more going on here than just an effort to protect babies, as proponents claim.

We should note that the New Testament makes clear that physical circumcision is not required for Christian men, although a spiritual “circumcision” is required of all who would follow Christ. The physical sign is a type of spiritual conversion: “Circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit” (Romans 2:29).

Sodom revisited

As the United States and other English-speaking nations move farther and farther away from their Christian roots, we will no doubt see more and more examples of concerted efforts to ridicule traditional values and especially our Judeo-Christian religious origins. It is indeed sad to see San Francisco becoming ever more a modern-day Sodom, not only in being a well-known center of sexual immorality, but in the more general sense of willful rejection of God and His Word.

This happened before to a nation God had richly blessed; ironically, to the ancestors of the very people now under attack in the scurrilous comic book. Through His prophets, God drew a parallel between the sins of Judah and those of Sodom and Gomorrah. Before allowing the southern kingdom of Judah to be taken into captivity as punishment for its rebellion (the northern kingdom of Israel was already in captivity) Isaiah warned:

“For Jerusalem stumbled, and Judah is fallen, because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of His glory. The look on their countenance witnesses against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought evil upon themselves” (Isaiah 3:8-9).

After the tipping point

Many observers believe the November bill in San Francisco won’t pass this time around. But such efforts to discredit the Bible and Judeo-Christian values and traditions will certainly continue and worsen, following recent trends. As that rejection of God worsens, the nation will reach a tipping point, and our Creator will withdraw His blessings from America and leave us to our fate in order to teach us a collective lesson.

Beyond that bad news, however, there is good news, just as there was for rebellious Judah. After Judah experienced punishment and repentance, God brought them back into their land and blessed them once again.

In the dire times prophesied yet to come (Matthew 24:21-22), nations that turn to God and repent will be blessed and protected. God also promised Judah:

“‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the LORD, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land’” (Isaiah 1:18-19).

Please listen, America.

For more about the biblical warnings and promises, see our free booklet The Mystery of the Kingdom.

Joel Meeker is a pastor and writer. He and his wife, Marjolaine, and two adult daughters live in Cincinnati, Ohio.