Muslims, Jews denounce circumcision ruling

[NGONGE]

German Muslims and Jews spoke with one voice on Wednesday – to denounce a court ruling which said circumcision was a crime of bodily harm. Both communities called for the criminalisation to be reversed.

 

"I feel the decision is discriminatory and counters efforts to promote integration," said Ali Demir, the chairman of the Islamic Religious Community.

 

"This legal ruling is an outrageous and insensitive act," said Central Council of Jews in Germany President Dieter Graumann in a statement.

 

The Jewish council called the ruling an “unprecedented and dramatic infringement of the rights of self determination for religious communities.”

 

The District Court in Cologne ruled on Monday that non-medical circumcision was a "serious and irreversible interference in the integrity of the human body.”

 

The ruling was made on an appeal by the prosecutor of a case involving a Muslim doctor who performed a circumcision on a four-year-old boy.

 

The court's logic was that the young child’s right to physical integrity had primacy over those of his parents to practice their religion.

 

Both Graumann and Demir rejected that, saying the ruling was a discriminatory and unfair intrusion into their religious freedom.

 

"This is a harmless procedure that has thousands of years of tradition and a high symbolic value," Demir said in a statement.

 

He also argued that there were advantages of circumcision in reducing the transfer of diseases. He said forbidding the practice would do nothing to stop it.

 

"We'll end up with circumcision tourism in neighbouring countries," he said.

 

Echoing his Muslim colleague, Graumann said: "Circumcision of newborn boys is an integral part of the Jewish religion and has been practiced worldwide for thousands of years. This religious right is respected in every country of the world."

 

Jewish boys are typically circumcised when they are eight days old, providing the child is healthy. Muslim boys are usually circumcised much later.

 

Graumann called on the German parliament to create a legal framework to ensure freedom of religious practice.

 

The Local/mw

[AYOUB]

You win some, you lose some..

 

Zimbabwe ministers to undergo circumcision

 

THE Government has introduced a new initiative that should see all male Cabinet ministers undergoing circumcision under a new programme that seeks to promote this mode of fighting the spread of HIV and Aids.

 

Members of Parliament and councillors are also earmarked for the second round of the exercise.

 

According to research, male circumcision is one of the ways of preventing the spread of the virus with reports indicating that the reduction can be up to 60 percent.

 

Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe told our Bulawayo Bureau in an interview that the decision was in line with strategies Government was implementing to curb the spread of HIV and Aids. DPM Khupe is also the leader of Government’s social cluster, which seeks, among other things, to spearhead the revival of health institutions across the country.

 

http://talkzimbabwe.com/zimbabwe-ministers-to-undergo-circumcision/

[Alpha Blondy]

interesting developments.

[The-freeman]

Good news! Religious freedom does not mean the right to injure an innocent child who cannot give consent.

[GaraadMon]

The-freeman;846152 wrote:

Good news! Religious freedom does not mean the right to injure an innocent child who cannot give consent.

I'm a bit torn on this decision, part of me thinks it's strange that the law allows you to make a cosmetic changes to a child's body, but it's a simple enough procedure that it won't be much of a problem. I wonder if you're allowed to perform liposuction or rhinoplasty on infants? Would that be considered harmful?

 

This is in Europe though, the only western countries where circumcisions are prevalent are Canada, the U.S and Australia.

[The-freeman]

Blackflash;846156 wrote:

I'm a bit torn on this decision, part of me thinks it's strange that the law allows you to make a cosmetic changes to a child's body, but it's a simple enough procedure that it won't be much of a problem.

I wonder if you're allowed to perform liposuction or rhinoplasty on infants? Would that be considered harmful?

 

This is in Europe though, the only western countries where circumcisions are prevalent are Canada, the U.S and Australia.

It would be harmful and probably illegal to perform such surgeries unless it is medically necessary. For circumcision, wait until the child turns 18 and let him decide.

[GaroweGal]

^Is this guy Okay? Let him decide are you serious? There is nothing to decide about its part of the Sunnah.

 

Soon breastfeeding will be banned because it causes sore nipples, Go Figure!

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

This is a tough one. On the one hand what happens your body should be left to you until your mature enough to decide on your own. Yet there are important health benefits and less painful when done in childhood. In other news, Germany is deathly afraid of being anti-semitic so there odds of overturning this is good, or so I think...

[GaraadMon]

GaroweGal;846189 wrote:

^Is this guy Okay? Let him decide are you serious? There is nothing to decide about its part of the Sunnah.

 

Soon breastfeeding will be banned because it causes sore nipples, Go Figure!

What does Sunnah have to do with Germany?

 

Also, breastfeeding is not comparable to circumcision, it is usually initiated by an adult woman and sore nipples are a temporary effect.

[NGONGE]

^^ How about abortion? Can a parent decide to aborn their child?

[GaraadMon]

NGONGE;846275 wrote:

^^ How about abortion? Can a parent decide to aborn their child?

I personally believe that abortion should be limited to cases of medical emergencies, rape and incest. Adoption should be the only other option outside these cases. To me, there is something wrong with the fact that the killing of a pregnant woman is double homicide while abortion is perfectly legal.

[The-freeman]

GaroweGal;846189 wrote:

^Is this guy Okay? Let him decide are you serious? There is nothing to decide about its part of the Sunnah.

 

Soon breastfeeding will be banned because it causes sore nipples, Go Figure!

Of course I'm abnormal for suggesting lets not cut and mutilate a healthy helpless human baby while you're perfectly sane for suggesting the opposite!

[Garnaqsi]

The-freeman;846283 wrote:

Of course I'm abnormal for suggesting lets not cut and mutilate a healthy helpless human baby while you're perfectly sane for suggesting the opposite!

[GaraadMon]

The-freeman;846283 wrote:

Of course I'm abnormal for suggesting lets not cut and mutilate a healthy helpless human baby while you're perfectly sane for suggesting the opposite!

Hear, hear.