Hmm... interesting thread. Too bad Shrike intervened before I got here - I was of a mind to do something a bit more drastic than ban a few people here and there.
Circumcision:
- I've never heard of any Egyptian thing concerning it, so I'm totally ignorant of that possible origin.
- The custom of circumcision in the western world arrived due the the Jewish roots of Christianity, and the Christian roots of the USA, plain and simple.
- Considering my faith, I'm fairly well-versed in the religious side of "why", so...
Circumcision is the sign of the covenant God made with Abraham and his decendants, to make him a father of many nations, to be Their God, and they His people, and to give them the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession. (
Genesis 17)
Pretty much the whole formation of Judaism and the Jewish People centers on this covenant, and circumcision is the sign of this covenant.