German circumcision ban incites new religious controversy in Europe
鈥� A听 summary of global reports on the German court ruling.
A German court set off religious controversy late last week with its ruling that the circumcision of young boys on religious grounds is illegal. Some commentators categorize the ban as just one of many legislative restrictions on religious minorities in Germany, and as part of growing religious intolerance in Europe.
Reuters听 that the Cologne court took action after police were alerted by a doctor who treated the 4-year-old son of first-generation Turkish immigrants Muhsin Sapci and his wife, Gonca, for bleeding after the boy underwent circumcision. A prosecutor sued the doctor in court.
The court ruled that the removal of the boy鈥檚 foreskin amounted to bodily harm and involved intolerable health risks. The Economist 听that circumcision was deemed to violate Germany鈥檚 constitutional protection of individuals' physical integrity 鈥� religious freedom and parents鈥� rights came second 鈥� and thus should be considered a crime. The court further suggested waiting until the age of 14 so boys themselves could decide whether to be circumcised.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel intervened over the court鈥檚 decision last Friday by promising the Muslim and Jewish communities that they are free to circumcise their children. Meanwhile, the Guardian 听that the government is urgently looking for a way around the ban. 听
Medical risk
Given the legal uncertainty, medical practitioners are afraid lay people will start performing the operation, and ritual circumcisions will go underground. The New York Times that the German Medical Association condemned the court's decision for potentially exposing children to medical risk, but it also warned surgeons not to perform circumcisions for religious reasons until legal clarity was established.
鈥淩ight now everything is controlled, most people go to a doctor and the child is covered by insurance,鈥� Muhsin Sapci, the young boy鈥檚 father said. 鈥淚f they try to outlaw it, it will still be done, but differently, and that could have consequences.鈥�
Public outcry
Germany is home to 4 million Muslims, the second biggest community in Europe, and to about 120,000 Jews. In a rare display of religious unity, the leaders of both faiths teamed up in Brussels and Berlin last week to demand a reversal of the ban.
The Economist 听that Dieter Graumann, president of Germany鈥檚 Central Council of Jews, asserted that the verdict, if it is upheld, 鈥渨ould make Jewish life in Germany, just as it is blooming again, practically impossible.鈥�
He also condemned the decision as 鈥渁n unprecedented and dramatic intrusion on the self-determination of religious communities鈥� and urged the German Parliament to pass legislation protecting circumcision as a religious practice, in 听with听The New York Times.听
The ruling is particularly sensitive in a Germany still haunted by memories from the Holocaust. It has caused many to wonder whether the court would have ruled differently had the case involved a Jewish boy, instead of a young Muslim, the paper further notes.
The court's judgment has drawn criticism from international players as well. The Associated Press 听that an Israeli parliamentary committee has denounced the ruling, stating that the circumcision of baby boys, eight days after their birth, is a fundamental Jewish right.
Laughing stock
The public outcry prompted Ms. Merkel to publicly criticize the court鈥檚 ruling and call for an urgent solution. A German Justice Ministry spokeswoman, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that legislative action might be needed to protect religious traditions in the wake of the court ruling, in with The Associated Press. So far, the ruling applies only to the area of the Cologne court鈥檚 jurisdiction.
Agence France-Presse 听that Bild, a German daily, reported Tuesday that Merkel warned the board of her conservative 海角大神 Democratic Union (CDU) that Germany must restore legal protection for circumcision in order to restore the country鈥檚 image.
鈥淚 do not want Germany to be the only country in the world in which Jews cannot practice their rites,鈥� Merkel is reported to have said. 鈥淥therwise we would make ourselves a laughing stock among nations."听
Growing intolerance
The appearance of religious intolerance has been a particularly sensitive point in increasingly secular Western Europe.
The Associated Press that Pinchas Goldschmidt, the chief rabbi of Moscow and the president of the Conference of European Rabbis, said the court's decision was part of what he saw as growing infringement upon religious freedom in听Europe.
"We see this development as part of the larger problem in Europe today," he said, citing France's ban on face-covering Muslim veils and Switzerland's ban on the construction of new minarets for听mosques.
