A Cologne court has decreed that a child’s circumcision is “bodily harm” and thus verboten. Unless the German Bundestag intervenes, which it has pledged to do, about four million Muslims and 100,000-plus Jews will have to practice a central part of their religion in the catacombs of Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich.

It is all God’s fault. “This is my covenant,” He ordered in Genesis 17:10, “which ye shall keep, and thy seed after thee. Every man child among you shall be circumcised.” The original criminal was Abraham, who laid hand on himself—without sterile equipment, let alone novocaine. Then he inflicted the same on his son Isaac on the eighth day after his birth, circa 4,000 years ago.

We are talking about a few millimeters of foreskin, not about female mutilation (clitoris out, labia excised or sewn together). But if you believe the Cologne judge and the chorus of yeah-sayers, this is a “barbaric ritual,” as the children’s ombudswoman of the Social Democrats put it. Matthias Franz, a psychiatrist at the University of Düsseldorf, bemoans “grave genital injuries with psychological and sexual damages down the line.”

Tell that to about six million Jewish men, half a billion Muslim males and about three-quarters of America’s manhood.

The Cologne judge ruled that the “physical integrity” of a baby boy beats religious ritual. Plus: The baby’s unuttered will trumps his parents’ say-so. Hence the state must step in, never mind parental rights or a pillar of faith. If this author’s parents weren’t dead, he would love to sue them for his unwanted tonsillectomy when he was age 5, for we now know that these tissues, a lot more voluminous than a tiny foreskin, are the body’s first defense against pathogens. He would also sue them for various involuntary vaccinations and their painful after-effects.

How about soccer moms who send their boys into the mayhem on the pitch? Or all those ambitious parents, medals dancing before their eyes, who risk the limbs and lives of their offspring on the ski-run, balance beam or show-jumping horse?
Yet this debate is not about facts or faith, as hundreds of letters to the editor testify. One “expert” argues to me that the American practice has nothing to do with health. The intent was “anti-libidinous,” aimed at stopping boys from “masturbating.” Another put circumcision into the same category as Nazi sterilization and forced abortion in China. This is not funny, but serious hatred of things American, Jewish and Muslim.

Leave aside fear and loathing, a large chunk, and you are left with the biggest headache of them all: state versus church in a Europe that is de-Christianizing. The closer the historical tie between throne and altar, as in Germany and Protestant Europe, the more control the state has arrogated unto itself. In Germany, which invented “cuius regio, eius religio” (the ruler’s faith determines his subjects’ faith), the government collects the tithe, mandates religious instruction in public schools, and decides which churches are “established” (Protestants, Catholics and Jews, but not Mormons or Baptists).

Thomas Jefferson’s “wall of separation,” justified by “religion [being] a matter which lies solely between man and his God,” has always been a low fence in Europe. As secularization grew, so did the scope of the state as scourge of superstition and unreason. Hence, the Cologne judge is hardly alone; 45% of German people think he is right. The state trumps both parents and a few thousand years of sanctified practice.

The irony of it all is that the state, as represented by the legislature, will have to reverse the judge. The temporal power as savior of the faith is not exactly a liberal’s dream, but neither is the “wall of separation” that now divides Jews and Muslims from the rest.

While the parliament ponders, let the stand-up comics have the stage. A good start is the War of Jenkins’ Ear, fought from 1739 to 1742 over three inches of epidermis and cartilage belonging to Captain Robert Jenkins. His merchant ship was boarded by the Spanish coast guard in the West Indies. In the scuffle, the skipper’s auricle was sliced off. He took it to London as Exhibit A, where a furious Parliament called for retribution. Spain didn’t back down and war ensued, sliding into the War of the Austrian Succession, which embroiled almost all of Europe.

Such a small piece of flesh, and such a big war. If the Cologne judge had known his history, he would have let discretion prevail over secularist rigor. “Live and let snip” might have been the wiser choice. Who wants to tangle with the Man in Heaven above?

Mr. Joffe is editor of Die Zeit, senior fellow of the Institute for International Studies and fellow of the Hoover Institution, both at Stanford University.

SOURCE:THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

LONDON – Widely celebrated for its tolerant atmosphere, London city is praised for hosting a special, multicultural Ramadan, offering hundreds of thousands of Muslim residents some of basic and spiritual manifestations of the holy month.

“The United Kingdom is one of the best nations in this respect, in addition to existence of a large number of Muslims and mosques,” Abu Saleh, a Syrian who has been living in Britain for 25 years, told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) on Sunday, July 22.

“Fortunately, ceremonies and Islamic religious rituals are held in this country without any restraint.”Ramadan, the holiest month in Islamic calendar, started in Britain on Friday.
In Ramadan, adult Muslims abstain from food, drink, smoking and sex between dawn and sunset.

The sick and those traveling are exempt from fasting especially if it poses health risks.

Fasting is meant to teach Muslims patience, self-control and spirituality, and time during the holy month is dedicated for getting closer to Allah though prayers, reading the Noble Qur’an and good deeds.

For centuries, special celebrations have colored the holy fasting month in Arab and Muslim countries.

For Muslim students and professional living in London, the British city offers them the spiritual atmosphere which they used to enjoy at home.

Murad Ayoub, spokesman of the Muslim Council of Britain, said London mosques attract a large number of worshippers during the holy month.

Muslims also hold iftar meals for the needy and some limited-income people.

Britain is home to a sizable Muslim minority, estimated at nearly 2.5 million.

There are 1,550 mosques and prayer corners in Britain that host thousands of worshippers per day.

Special Flavor

Muslim students in London say the city is distinguished with a “special Ramadan atmosphere,” where the believers can perform their rituals, largely, freely and without restrictions.

Ahmad Al-Otaibi, a Saudi engineering student, said he spends two weeks of the holy month in the country without feeling lonely, due to mingling with many Muslims of other countries at worship places.

According to Al-Otaibi, there are some 300,000 Arab residents living in London, the second largest foreign community after the Chinese.

Usama, an English language student from Kuwait, says he favors fasting in the European country due to the cold weather, thus would not suffer from thirst.

He cites Edgeware Road as his favorite destination during Ramadan, where he would gather with friends and share iftar meals at restaurants along the renowned avenue, also known as the “Arabs’ Street.”

Giving the holy month a special flavor, Ramadan coincides this year with the London Olympics, which is scheduled to start from July 27 to August 12.

Muslim organizations in London have launched a new initiative to promote respect across lines of culture, religion, tradition, class and gender during the fasting month.

The Ramadan festival, which was launched on Wednesday, July 18, is part of 2012 Hours Against Hate for Unity, a join initiative of London-based community organizations to promote respect across lines of culture, religion, tradition, class and gender.
London mosques would also host iftar for thousands of athletes and visitors during the London Olympics.

SOURCE:onislam

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 reports 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’s foreskin amounted to bodily harm and involved intolerable health risks. The Economist writes that circumcision was deemed to violate Germany’s constitutional protection of individuals’ physical integrity – religious freedom and parents’ rights came second – 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.

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel intervened over the court’s decision last Friday by promising the Muslim and Jewish communities that they are free to circumcise their children. Meanwhile, the Guardian writes that the government is urgently looking for a way around the ban.

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 reports 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.

“Right now everything is controlled, most people go to a doctor and the child is covered by insurance,” Muhsin Sapci, the young boy’s father said. “If they try to outlaw it, it will still be done, but differently, and that could have consequences.”

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 writes that Dieter Graumann, president of Germany’s Central Council of Jews, asserted that the verdict, if it is upheld, “would make Jewish life in Germany, just as it is blooming again, practically impossible.”He also condemned the decision as “an unprecedented and dramatic intrusion on the self-determination of religious communities” and urged the German Parliament to pass legislation protecting circumcision as a religious practice, in an interview with The New York Times. 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 reports 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’s 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 an interview with The Associated Press. So far, the ruling applies only to the area of the Cologne court’s jurisdiction.

Agence France-Presse writes that Bild, a German daily, reported Tuesday that Merkel warned the board of her conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) that Germany must restore legal protection for circumcision in order to restore the country’s image.

“I do not want Germany to be the only country in the world in which Jews cannot practice their rites,” Merkel is reported to have said. “Otherwise we would make ourselves a laughing stock among nations.”

Growing intolerance

The appearance of religious intolerance has been a particularly sensitive point in increasingly secular Western Europe.

The Associated Press reports 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 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 mosques.

SOURCE:The Christian Science Monitor