{"id":888,"date":"2011-06-22T07:54:35","date_gmt":"2011-06-22T11:54:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www3.law.harvard.edu\/journals\/hlpr\/?p=888"},"modified":"2015-10-02T15:52:50","modified_gmt":"2015-10-02T15:52:50","slug":"beware-foreskin-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/2011\/06\/22\/beware-foreskin-man\/","title":{"rendered":"Beware Foreskin Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

Smita Ghosh<\/em><\/p>\n

San Francisco\u2019s proposed circumcision ban has prompted many an either-or question: \u201cAre the Circumcision Opponents Anti-Semitic or Sexually Repressed<\/a>?,\u201d\u00a0 asks one commentator, a\u00a0Californian Rabbi; \u201cIs circumcision insane or healthy<\/a>?,\u201d\u00a0wonders another. \u00a0San Francisco residents decided in May to put the proposed ban on this November\u2019s ballot \u2014 and people are eager to discuss the topic. Many criticise the anti-Semitic sentiments that the ban seems to inspire,\u00a0citing \u201cForeskin Man<\/a>,\u201d a comic book published in support of the campaign.\u00a0\u00a0While discussing the ban,\u00a0America\u2019s bloggerati has dabbled in questions of religious tolerance, revisiting\u00a0Free Exercise clause<\/a>\u00a0jurisprudence\u00a0and\u00a0religious freedom\u00a0<\/a>more generally. \u00a0These discussions \u2014 particularly those that bridge often fractious religious lines \u2014 have been fruitful and inspiring.<\/p>\n

We should take a hint from them when we review the Islamophobia of the GOP debates.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Circumcision tends to be practiced by both Muslims and Jews, and the ban has united religious organizations in opposition. \u00a0The National Association of Evangelicals, which represents 45,000 churches,\u00a0announced its solidarity\u00a0<\/a>with Jewish and Muslim practitioners last week: \u201cJews, Muslims and Christians all trace our spiritual heritage back to Abraham. Circumcision begins with Abraham. No American government should restrict this historic tradition.\u201d\u00a0 For what it\u2019s worth, the makers of Foreskin Man seem to share the NAE\u2019s cross-religious outlook, and are\u00a0rumored to be\u00a0<\/a>planning a third issue that will focus on Muslim instead of Jewish characters .<\/p>\n

Eugene Volokh\u00a0suggests that\u00a0<\/a>the anti-Semitism of ban supporters like \u201cForeskin Man\u201d wouldn\u2019t necessarily be enough to convince a court that the ban was \u201cmotivated by religious hostility,\u201d which would\u00a0show that\u00a0the facially neutral law violated the Free Exercise clause. But this high standard aside, the hostility underlying \u00a0Foreskin Man\u00a0has political<\/a>, if not legal significance. \u00a0Weeks after the introduction of the San Francisco ban, some\u00a0news outlets\u00a0<\/a>are starting to see the ban as a referendum on religious freedom.<\/p>\n

The ban is unlikely to amount to more than a talking point, perhaps because of the ugly religious hostility that it inspired. \u00a0A U.S. Representative has\u00a0already introduced\u00a0<\/a>a bill that would prevent the measure \u00a0from ever being enacted , and a similar initiative in Santa Monica\u00a0has failed to even qualify\u00a0<\/a>for the ballot.<\/p>\n

But the ensuing discussion will hopefully prove instructive, especially in the\u00a0upcoming election cycle. \u00a0Several GOP Presidential candidates reiterated their \u2018discomfort\u2019 with Muslim Americans\u00a0at last week\u2019s debate<\/a>, reviving anti-Muslim tropes that\u00a0underlie\u00a0<\/a>many modern political discussions.\u00a0 One hopes that these statements \u2014 like Foreskin Man\u2019s crude imagery \u2014 will stimulate crucial conversation about religious tolerance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Smita Ghosh San Francisco\u2019s proposed circumcision ban has prompted many an either-or question: \u201cAre the Circumcision Opponents Anti-Semitic or Sexually […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peZQka-ek","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}