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By Rosemary Pollock
LDS Activist Seeks To Reverse Circumcisions
CONCORD, CALIFORNIA -- If you happen to see a license plate in the
parking lot of the Concord, Calif. Mormon church that reads,
"NORM.ORG," it will belong to R. Wayne Griffiths, an impassioned,
"intactivist" activist. The license is the web address of the
National Organization of Restoring Men. Griffiths is one of the
principal founders of the foreskin-restoration movement. "This is not
absurd at all," Griffiths claims.
Griffiths is 67 years old, divorced and a member of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He has six children and 21
grandchildren. As Mr. Griffiths sees it, circumcision falls morally
into the same category as abortion. He believes that Jews circumcise
their boys to signify a covenant with God, but Mormons and many other
Christrian religions do not.
One day in 1987, Griffiths' beliefs were enforced while watching Phil
Donahue. Syndicated radio doctor, Dean Edell and Marilyn Milos, a
nurse, were interviewed. "It was the first time I saw my inner
thoughts expressed by someone else," said Griffiths. "To feel whole
again, that was the motive for me. Everyone should feel good about
their body."
Circumcison is perfomed most fequently in the U.S. as many American
doctors insist it reduces urinary infections and a rare form of
cancer. However, the practice is on the decline. The American Academy
of Pediatrics no longer deem routine the circumcision of baby boys as
a medical necessity.
After long hours at his job at a local sanitation district, Griffiths
comes home to hundreds of e-mails that he personally answers. One
Sunday, Griffiths attended a "NORM" chapter meeting in Los Angeles.
The room was filled with 25 men from their late teens to early 70's.
Griffiths was presented as the guest of honor. "Happy to be here,"
Griffiths says. "Men all over the world want to know what they can do
to restore. We're happy to help."
Source:
Lonely Causes -- A Matter of Gravity: Restoration Campaign Finds Converts
Wall Street Journal pgA1 28Dec00 P2
By Barry Newman: Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
They Often Find Ridicule --- `Intactivists' Seek to Undo A Long-Practiced Ritual; The Going Is Very Slow --- One Man's Weighty Solution
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