PRI: Public Radio International

German Jews and Muslims outraged over ban on circumcisions

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 13:00:00 -0500

A recent German court ruling that calls circumcision a "bodily harm" has sparked weeks of outrage among Germany's Jewish and Muslim communities. A group of rabbis went so far as to declare the court's decision "the worst attack on Jewish life in Germany since the Holocaust."

Isaac Granados

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 13:22:51 -0500

It sounds like it is time to flee. If we have learned anything from history it is NOW the time to put a stop to anti-semitism OR it is time to leave the country. Either way we should not stand there and do nothing like before.

Roland Day

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 06:23:44 -0500

The court's decision was based on the human rights articles of the Basic Law (1949) (Grundgesetz), which serves as Germany's constitution. These human rights provisions are quite strong. They were designed to prevent a recurrence of Nazism and such things as non-therapeutic operations on children by people like Dr. Mengele. Such unnecessary operations by Muslims and Jews violate the human rights of the child, so the court found that religious rights of parents do not extend to injuring the child by amputation of part of his penis, which is what circumcision does.

The decision by the Cologne Regional Court does not prohibit circumcision. It merely defers circumcision until the child is old enough to decide for himself. It does not prohibit circumcision in the rare case of medical treatment.

The court application of the Grundgesetz provides protection for all children equally without regard to race, skin color, national origin, or condition of birth.

Robert Whatley

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 06:44:15 -0500

The German high court ruling is a major victory for human rights. Circumcision is a needless and barbaric act perpetrated on the body's of innocents for archaic and senseless traditions..

I must strongly disagree with the statement equating circumcission to euthanasia. That is grandstanding at its best and a display of cultural regression at its least.

Circumcission is nothing short of involuntary physical mutilation performed on both young girls and boys.

Germany displays cultural enlightenment by declaring this inane practice illegal. When will other nations finally in the 21st century take a stand against this barbarism?

James Loewen

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 08:52:10 -0500

All children have a basic human right to bodily integrity. Genital cutting is a violation of this basic human right. Ancient superstitions are no excuse for tampering with the genitals of children.

There is no such thing as a "responsibly performed circumcision" on a child. Responsible surgery is surgery that has medical need and expressed consent of the patient.

Cutting off the highly erogenous and protective foreskin (a natural body part) without the expressed understanding and consent of the only person to whom it matters) is a severe violation of human rights.

Chris Libera

Sun, 22 Jul 2012 02:33:44 -0500

@Isaac Granados. Please don't feel forced to stay wherever you are. Don't like it leave now. Same goes to Jews in Germany. You MUST obey local news even if you are a Jew,whether you like it or not. That's all there is to it. Jews remind me the blacks in the US and Europe. Everything they don't like, they see as antisemitism or racism. I remember in California twenty years ago when I made some remarks about American lifestyle, "don't like it, go home" and so I did.