Missouri man charged with illegal circumcision of 2 teens
Source: Associated Press
Updated 12:53 pm CDT, Thursday, October 11, 2018
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) A Missouri man who started his own religious ministry has been charged with illegally circumcising two teenagers.
The Springfield News-Leader reports that 47-year-old Curtis Abbott, of Nixa, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of child endangerment and one count of unauthorized practice of medicine or surgery. Abbott sent a statement to the News-Leader calling the allegations "false."
. . .
Many details of the case, including a motive, haven't been made public because the case was handled by a grand jury.
. . .
Nixa founded an organization called "Restore Bible Culture." Court filings in his divorce finalized this summer say he said he has had "multiple prophetic communications."
Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Missouri-man-charged-with-illegal-circumcision-of-13299121.php
Nixa man, a failed polygamist and minister, accused of illegally circumcising 2 teens
Giacomo Bologna, Springfield News-Leader
Published 2:32 p.m. CT Oct. 10, 2018 | Updated 11:34 p.m. CT Oct. 10, 2018
A Nixa man who started an organization called "Restore Bible Culture" was indicted for illegally circumcising two teenagers in May, court documents say.
A grand jury indicted Curtis W. Abbott in August on two counts of child endangerment and one count of unauthorized practice of medicine or surgery all of which are felonies.
Abbott, 47, is not a doctor.
He sent a statement to the News-Leader calling the allegations false.
Because the case was handled by a grand jury, many details of the case like an alleged motive are not public.
More:
https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/crime/2018/10/10/nixa-crime-illegal-circumcision-teens-polygamy-sister-wife-telemarketing-scam/1538578002/
keithbvadu2
(36,962 posts)Unless a rabbi has a medical license, it looks like Abbot has a valid case.
"Freedom of religion"
SoCalNative
(4,613 posts)not specifically rabbis. And many mohalim are doctors or rabbis (and some are both) or cantors and are required to receive appropriate training both from the religious and medical fields.
Mr. Big
(45 posts)But is a doctor's son. We grew up together.
He runs a local synagogue, but leans to the right (of my taste).
He's basically the state mohel, so it keeps him pretty busy. (I think we're down to two)
Judi Lynn
(160,646 posts)Solly Mack
(90,792 posts)MD or not, all mohels have to have medical training in circumcision.
Rabbis can also be medical doctors. As can Cantors, who can also be mohels.
keithbvadu2
(36,962 posts)LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)keithbvadu2
(36,962 posts)Why not? Play libertarian.
It was half in jest, half serious.
Solly Mack
(90,792 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Whether they have some sort of training or not is entirely beside the point that they are performing surgery without a medical license under a religious exemption.
If it is a religious practice, then any medical license or training is thoroughly irrelevant, as is having an infectious disease, e.g.:
http://gothamist.com/2017/03/30/de_blasio_herpes_circumcision.php
Six babies have developed herpes following circumcisions since Bill de Blasio became mayor, and his administration is now changing course on the issue in an attempt to stop mohels who have infected babies with herpes from performing the metzitzah bpeh ritual.
...
The "metzitzah b'peh" ritual is the circumcision practice in which a mohel sucks the blood from a freshly snipped foreskin of a baby boy. Outside of the ultra-Orthodox community, the ritual is shunned by Jews, and is considered by many to be an ancient tradition based on "a long-discredited medical theory from the Iron Age before the dawn of the Common Era."
Under the Bloomberg administration, the Board of Health ruled that "parents need to be aware of the opinion of experts," and unanimously passed circumcision consent forms that required Orthodox Jewish parents to sign a waiver before their infant could undergo the procedure. The City was immediately sued by ultra-Orthodox Jewish groups who claimed their First Amendment rights were violated.
Solly Mack
(90,792 posts)Yes. Thank you.
Sgent
(5,857 posts)that requires licensure for a Mohel, and all I know of allow for religious circumcision by unlicensed individuals (including MO).
Most Jewish communities have requirements and restrictions on who can do circumcisions and only accept those done by / in an approved manner. All Mohel's I know of either are medically trained and licensed, or have fairly extensive training as an apprentice. Many Jewish Mohel's are MD's, but certainly not all -- and even those would only be licensed in the states they keep an active license.
BamaRefugee
(3,488 posts)SWBTATTReg
(22,176 posts)slumcamper
(1,606 posts)I wonder what the lives of the poor bastards who fell beneath this monster's knife will be like? Look at that dude's face. How much public assistance will his victims require to overcome the demons of this abuse during their lives?
I support regulating churches.
Our rights are not absolute--whether speech, religion, guns, privacy, etc.
Kooks like this SOB are clear testament to the need for a role by government in regulating the excesses of our institutions to intercede and prevent those whose demented conceptions of our rights hinge on "freedumb."
The spawn of conservatism has given us far too many crazy fucks who are reposing in flags and twisted conceptions of "liberty" to justify and engage in such wacky bullshit, essentially exploiting the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Societal vermin like this need to be locked up, and a great many of them are "church-people."
olegramps
(8,200 posts)It can't happen too soon, but unfortunately just consider that it took centuries for the Catholic Church to admit that Galileo was right and the sun really didn't revolve around the earth.
irisblue
(33,036 posts)I will be interested in seeing the boys & their parents reasoning to have Abbot do this
marble falls
(57,353 posts)certification, I bet its longer hours than that for conceal carry of firearms in that state!
roamer65
(36,747 posts)It should be banned unless an adult male chooses to have it performed or it is medically necessary.
Fuck the bullshit religious reasons for it.
NickB79
(19,276 posts)It's possible they were legally adults when they agreed to let him circumcise them.