Q&A: Religious Coercion — Between Public Transportation on the Sabbath and Circumcision
Religious Coercion — Between Public Transportation on the Sabbath and Circumcision
Question
I’m not familiar with many commandments that force me to perform a religious act on someone else, at the cost of that person’s pain and bodily injury.
That raises the question for me: is circumcising one’s son moral?
Maybe when he grows up, he should decide for himself whether to do it.
Is there a connection between this and civil marriage or public transportation on the Sabbath, where I do not want to impose my beliefs on a secular person?
True, God commanded it. But is it moral to cause pain to another person and inflict a bodily defect on him by God’s command?
And more than that — does a secular person who does not keep the commandments, and yet circumcises his son, have any moral justification for doing so?
Answer
I don’t think it’s all that problematic. First, we’re talking about localized pain that passes, and that’s it. A small child is not aware of it and does not feel it all that strongly. Second, if this is the right thing, then you are doing it for your son, for his sake. And third, if this is immoral, then educating him is also immoral, and giving him food he may not like is also immoral, and certainly insisting that he eat healthy food (and not tasty food) is immoral.