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I don't think it's 'political correctness' that made him remove his tweets and apologise. More likely the realisation that insulting large swathes of potential fans and sparking a twitter debate that could only ever show him in negative terms might not be the best career move for a man whose career depends on the public's willingness to accept him.
I have very few opinions on male circumcision.It's not as big a thing over here as it is over in the States I think. I don't know enough about the apparent health benefits. My gut reaction is that it seems a damn strange thing to do to a boy. I don't understand it. I don't particularly approve of it. I certainly don't approve of it as a religious rite. If someone can prove health benefits that's well and good, but the big man in the sky wants you to cut off a piece from a baby? That sits ill with me.
That said: it was a stupid place to make such comments. I daresay that some people might find my above comments about the man in the sky a little offensive and consider it belittles their very real faith. But I am saying this on a board frequented mainly by regulars who know my views on faith. What I am not doing is standing atop a prominent place and shouting to the entire world my opinion on faith. Aside from it being a stupid place to make such comments, the comments themselves were designed to be aggressively offensive to anybody reading them who might actually subscribe to such a faith. Along with insulting any parent who might consider the act for their children.
He was deliberately provocative and insulting to a large contingent of twitter users, and whilst he should absolutely have a legal right to do so, and should absolutely not face any kind of legal sanction, it is entirely the right of the twitter community to self-police and give him a written slap. he responded to that written slap by withdrawing his comments and choosing not to cause further offence.
If you really want to take someone to task about their beliefs being downright rude and insulting about them is probably not the most effective tactic.
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