The Outcome of Faulty Reasoning

What is Faulty Reasoning?

Faulty reasoning is reasoning that is not logically valid. A reasonable conclusion is based on data or evidence. Faulty reasoning occurs when the conclusion is not supported by the data.

By examining the past history of many nations, we can determine how faulty reasoning has indeed caused many atrocities against humanity, today faulty reasoning continues to cause atrocities.

Consider the international practice known as FGM or female genital mutilation, also known as female circumcision or simply cutting. This practice is centuries old and is evident among the mummies of ancient Egypt and relates to the pharaonic belief in bisexuality of the Gods. In some places ancient religious ceremonies are connected with FGM, however, nothing in the Holy Bible mentions the need to perform such mutilating operation on females.

This practice involves removing part of the clitoris, the surrounding labia and sometimes the sewing up of the vagina, leaving only a small opening. Young girls are forcibly "cut" before puberty. The result is a lifetime of physical, emotional and psychological pain. In reality, FGM violates the right of every young girl to develop physically in a healthy and normal way.

UNICEF estimates that the total number of women living today who have been subjected to FGM in Africa ranges between 100 and 130 million. This means that approximately 2 million girls are mutilated every year. Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia, and the Sudan account for 75 percent of all cases. In Djibouti and Somalia, 98 per cent of girls are mutilated. Due to immigration, FGM is now being practiced in areas of Asia, Europe, and the United States.

Who are the Perpetrators?

Misinformed well-intentioned people, who have been deceived by faulty reasoning. The deception starts from infancy, a teaching that is so effective it brainwashes people into believing that the practice of FGM is seen as a cultural requirement that has health benefits and makes women more physically beautiful.

Correcting Faulty Reasoning

Is it possible to change the thinking of these well-intentioned people, is it reasonable to believe that a person, group or nation can truly change their thought process? In order to stop this abomination the thinking of well-intentioned people has to be changed, is it worth the effort? Absolutely!

What is being done?

The United Nations has declared that FGM is a violation of the human rights of girls and women. The United States is calling for the complete elimination of FGM through policies that include education, the empowerment of women, and enforcement of laws against FGM. The performance of FGM on a person under the age of 18 was made a crime in the United States under section 116 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, and 16 states have laws outlawing FGM.

Sound reasoning has began to open the eyes of the mind to the truth regarding this practice. Helping people to understand that this tradition is based on faulty reasoning is slowly taking hold. Of course, there is still much work to be done. By helping one well-intentioned person at a time, to examine the thinking and the personality of the benevolent creator who is the maker of all things including woman and little girls, is making remarkable changes in the thinking of sincere people who have been under the shroud of faulty thinking for decades.

Reference source: Awake magazine, April 8, 1993; wwwfeminist.org/global/fgm.html