Circumcision ban may become ‘laughing stock’

BERLIN - Reuters

German Chancellor Angela Merkel gives a speech during the Petersberger Klimadialog III climate conference on July 16, 2012 in Berlin. The informal meeting of environment ministers and representatives from 35 countries aims to prepare the UN climate conference to take place in Qatar at the end of 2012. AFP PHOTO / WOLFGANG KUMM GERMANY OUT

German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that Germany could become a laughing stock if it fails to turn over a district court ban on circumcision.

“I do not want Germany to be the only country in the world where Jews and Muslims cannot practice their rituals or else we will become a laughing stock” Merkel said. Merkel’s government has already criticized the Cologne court ruling and promised a new law to protect the right to circumcise Jews and Muslim male infants. Joerg van Essen, parliamentary floor leader of Merkel’s junior coalition partner the Free Democrats, told the Financial Times Deutschland newspaper that the new law would be introduced in the autumn.

The Cologne court, ruling in the case of a Muslim boy who suffered bleeding after circumcision, said the practice inflicts bodily harm and should not be carried out on young boys.