<snip half-flame>

If it sounded like I was making light of circumcision or arguing against
it, then I'm sorry because it wasn't my intent.

I accept and respect the sacredness of circumcision and have no wish to
discourage it, let me make that perfectly clear. This tradition is very
respected by many peoples, not just yours. But, no matter how you look at
it, circumcision is still a painful thing to experience. Even thinking
about it makes me cringe. So why is it still practiced? Because it *is* a
sacred ritual.

And having been through it myself, I know where you're coming from.

That doesn't prevent my secular mind from saying, (and I am speaking
strictly for myself) "Y'know, thinking about it, circumcision seems like a
peculiar thing to make sacred, and yet it is. Is a ritual cursing at
Jyusenkyo really that strange?"

Which is my origial point, and was really the only thing under discussion
in this thread, that the answer is "no." There are many rituals of esteem
that boggle the secular mind. The Saotome's Jyusenkyo tradition doesn't
seem so far-fetched. To the Saotomes, that ritual might be just as sacred
as circumcision is to you. Maybe not, but it could happen.



                           ---------------------
##   ## ##   ## #######  ##   ##  AKA Tom Jefferys, Time Lord for Hire
##   ##  #   #   ##   ## ### ###    "Have TARDIS; Will Travel."
## # ##   ###    #####   ## # ##  Wielder of ANVIL and SPAM! Breaking
### ###    #     ##  ##  ##   ##    the Rules of Fanfiction!
##   ##   ###   ###   ## ##   ## of UT      <wyrm@mail.utexas.edu>
Save the Bit Trees -- Conserve SPAM!         When in Rome...BURN IT!!!
                   Darwin was wrong: Man is still an ape!