Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, it's a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that at some level of genius. It also helps that it's a long time ago, right?

It's like the podcast version of telling your kids

the ice cream van plays music when it's out of ice cream.

Listen to evil genius on BBC Sounds.

This is a special download from the BBC Free Thinking Festival.

For more information and our terms of use,

go to BBC.com.ukuk slash radio three.

For those of you who are squeamish, please don't worry.

I'm not going to share with you the graphic details

of what I saw as an 11-year-old girl

when I snuck into our family living room and peered from behind the couch as my eight-day-old brother was circumcised.

So rest easy.

Instead, I'm going to talk about the political storm brewing around religious circumcision.

Less than a month ago, the Council of Europe

passed a motion that declared the circumcision of young boys for religious reasons, a violation

of the physical integrity of children. Although the motion is non-binding, some charged the Council

of Europe with Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. Others stressed the importance of

protecting children from bodily violations justified in the name of religion. One said,

If the group demanded that infants must have a finger removed to comply with its belief structure,

every civilized society would rightly outlaw the practice. Why is removal of part of

the external genitalia any different? This debate is not a marginal issue affecting a small number

of men. Approximately 30% of males aged 15 years or older are circumcised around the world. Two-thirds

...