Sometimes it's the right thing to cut

Andrew Sullivan, on his ongoing anti-circumcision crusade, again, muffs his attempt at a concession to religious belief:

And circumcision - for all sorts of silly, archaic reasons - is nonetheless a deeply held religious ritual for many Jews and Muslims.

Just so we're clear, this is the biblical mandate that Andrew believes is archaic and silly:

This is My covenant between Me, and between you and your offspring that you must keep: You must circumcise every male. You shall be circumcised through the flesh of your foreskin. This shall be the mark of the covenant between Me and you. 'Throughout all generations, every male shall be circumcised when he is eight days old.... This shall be My covenant in your flesh, an eternal covenant. The uncircumcised male whose foreskin has not been circumcised, shall have his soul cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.

(Genesis 17:1-14)

If that commandment is silly and archaic, then essentially all of Judaism is.