German Government Stands With Jews and Muslims in Circumcision Debate
The German government has decided to stand on the side of religious groups seeking the right to continue performing circumcisions on young boys, overturning a previous court decision that sought to ban the practice.
"Jewish and Muslim religious life must continue to be possible in Germany. Circumcision has a central religious significance for Jews and Muslims," said lawmakers last week, an overwhelming majority of whom voted for the resolution, BBC News reported.
"We do not want to give any endorsement ... to the practice of circumcision with this resolution," said Christian Democrat Guenter Krings. "It is important that there is a debate on the practice within religious communities and also within society, but this debate must not take place under the Damoclean sword of prosecution."
Get Our Latest News for FREE
"The decision by a district court in Cologne, Germany, to deem non-medical circumcision a crime places an intolerable burden on the free exercise of religion by Jews and also by Muslims who practice male circumcision as part of their religious faith," Abraham Foxman, the The New York-based Anti-Defamation League's national director, said in a statement.
A district court in Cologne had previously ruled that non-medical circumcision was a crime because it takes away important bodily decisions from the children and places them in the hands of the parents.
"The body of the child is irreparably and permanently changed by a circumcision," the court had said. "This change contravenes the interests of the child to decide later on his religious beliefs."
While it was a non-binding ruling, Jewish and Muslim communities in Germany spoke out against the decision, claiming that it infringes on their rights.
"We consider this to be an affront [to] our basic religious and human rights," the Rabbinical Center of Europe, the European Jewish Parliament, the European Jewish Association, Germany's Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs and the Islamic Center in Brussels said in a joint statement.
The initial decision concerned a circumcision performed on a 4-year-old Muslim boy in 2010, which resulted in the child needing emergency care.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, however, has said that the Cologne decision makes Germany a "laughing stock" and religious groups should not be denied the right to carry out their practices.
As a result of the motion on Thursday, the lower house of parliament has urged the government to "present a draft law in the autumn... that guarantees that the circumcision of boys, carried out with medical expertise and without unnecessary pain, is permitted".
Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has praised the motion as a sign that Germany is a "tolerant and cosmopolitan country," respectful of different religious groups.
Germany has a Muslim population of about 4 million people, including 120,000 citizens who are registered as Jews.
