Why is circumcision so popular in US, Australia and Canada?

So having looked at several forums in US I was surprised to see many people say they were circumcised. I thought all my life that circumcision is only a Jewish and Muslim thing. Afterwards I decided to inform myself on the popularity of this practice around the world and found this map:



This displays the estimated percentage of men in every country that is circumcised. As you can see uncircumcision is the norm rather than the exception in the world, and especially among Christians. In Latin America circumcision is virtually unexistent. In Europe only Muslim minorities in the Balkans and Russia + massive Muslim immigration in the western part bring the figures to somewhat visible, otherwise hardly above 1%. Southern Africa, New Zealand and the Oceanian islands have low figures as well. Circumcision is also uncommon in India and much of eastern and southeastern Asia, and Christian minorities in these countries are no different is this respect. Even among Christians in the Middle East the practice is more uncommon than what you might think, and you can see this being the case in Lebanon (the little light blue country north of Israel): 40-49% of uncircumcised men and 40-49% of Christians according to most estimations.

US, Australia, Philippines and some African countries are the only predominantly Christian ones to have a majority of circumcised men, with Canada not far off. And we have to note pre-Christian influences are the driving factor in the latter two cases (in the Philippines Muslim influence, in Ethiopia Jewish influence and in the rest of Africa tribal influence). This leaves the former English colonies of US, and to a lesser extent Australia and Canada as the only Christian societies where circumcision is a tradition without older roots.

So what is the explaination for this?

It's most likely two-fold as far as I can tell. Circumcision not only makes the male part easier to clean, but removing the foreskin also removes some of the surface area of a highly sensitive and easily aroused part of the male body.

The idea being that if there is less sensitivity on that part of the male body then it is less prone to being stimulated and therefore predisposes youth to learning self-control relatively easier.

This is along the same lines as why Jesus said "For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it." The idea being is that a eunuch will be physically disabled from committing some sexual sins. In like manner, the circumcised are given a bit of an advantage for learning self-control, just as not as much as the eunuchs.

So you may also have noticed the birth rates in countries where circumcision is higher compared to countries where circumcisions is lower. In Western countries the birth rate is typically lower than non-Western countries and it also varies depending on demographics as well. It's related to whether one has circumcision or not.

well the USA has a large Jewish population and probably a lot of Jewish doctors. Not sure about Australia. I wouldnt say many Australians are christians.

It doesnt matter anyway as the Bible tells us that for christians, physical circumcision means nothing. Spiritual circumcision of the heart is what matters, for both male and female.

It's most likely two-fold as far as I can tell. Circumcision not only makes the male part easier to clean, but removing the foreskin also removes some of the surface area of a highly sensitive and easily aroused part of the male body.

The idea being that if there is less sensitivity on that part of the male body then it is less prone to being stimulated and therefore predisposes youth to learning self-control relatively easier.

This is along the same lines as why Jesus said "For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it." The idea being is that a eunuch will be physically disabled from committing some sexual sins. In like manner, the circumcised are given a bit of an advantage for learning self-control, just as not as much as the eunuchs.

So you may also have noticed the birth rates in countries where circumcision is higher compared to countries where circumcisions is lower. In Western countries the birth rate is typically lower than non-Western countries and it also varies depending on demographics as well. It's related to whether one has circumcision or not.

FGM female genital mutiliation was practiced in a lot of African Islamic countries am not sure if it still widespread. But I remember reading about it in a book called Desert Flower.

Of course, its not really counted in mulim countries because their religion is such that females dont count at all. In Judaism, women are also not counted and their witness was not valued. Orthodox Jewish men would pray 'Thank God He didnt make me a woman'

Barely 7 million out of 331. Not enough to influence the figures.

With Christian countries I meant countries with a Christian tradition, not countries where a majority is practising. If we actually classified countries through the latter measure sure we would probably have to take out the vast majority of countries.

And agree 100% with the second part.