The Righteous Frau Merkel
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative government has taken the initiative to restore religious freedom in Germany in the matter of infant circumcision (“German Court Opens the Sluice-Gate for Anti-Semitism,” July 2). That shows real leadership. Judging from opinion polls and media commentary, a German court’s ban on infant circumcision has strong popular support, for what seems to be very bad reasons. But Germany’s Chancellor took a strong stand on moral grounds, and appears to have closed the sluice gate. Reports Der Spiegel:
Responding to intense international pressure from Jewish and Muslim groups alike, Germany on Thursday moved to send a signal that the country will continue to allow the tradition of circumcision for boys despite a court ruling that critics said could make Jewish life in Germany impossible. In recent days, Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that Germany would become a laughing stock for the rest of the world if it allowed any ban on the circumcision of boys to stand. he resolution is not legally binding, but it was passed to send a message to religious communities in Germany and abroad that a controversial June court ruling would not be allowed to stand.
Three weeks ago, a Cologne regional court ruled in a case involving a Muslim boy that the child’s circumcision had been tantamount to bodily injury and was therefore a punishable crime. The decision drew immediate criticism from Muslim and Jewish groups in Germany. One prominent rabbi described the ruling as the worst attack on Jewish culture in Germany since the Holocaust and warned that Jewish life would no longer be possible in Germany if the ruling became a precedent.
Angela Merkel is also a steadfast friend of the State of Israel. Her government just delivered a fourth Dolphin-class submarine to the Israeli Navy.
Nice to see that she is apparently responding to arguments from senior European Jewish leaders such as CR Sacks (http://www.chiefrabbi.org/2012/07/06/the-jerusalem-post-the-europeans-skewed-view-of-circumcision/).
Circumcision is risking a disastrous failure of genital health for life in exchange for very minor, if any, tangible benefits. To disagree is to see both religion and social health as collectivist, not as the free choice of a rational individual. It’s an uncomfortable crossroads for Germany, but banning it is the right path in context of its recent history, even if inconvenient for Jews and Muslims in the country. It’s not as if they’re banning, say, music that might be disagreeable to their culture. Doesn’t the submarine deal show that they’re not being motivated by Nazi ghosts now?
Germany is still more tolerant than in any other time, and it’s more tolerant than it has to be for its own health. Its demographic disaster comes from a lack of land, not spiritual sickness.
The ultimate goal of religion always was and still is to rise a person above individualism and rationalism to community ties and emotional and very irrational relations with God. Religion is by definition irrational and collectivist. It can not be meaningfully practiced in isolation. The view of religion as individual affair rather than social is a telling symptom of this spiritual disease which you deny.
Higher Game is a regular poster on a white supremacist forum so it’s not surprising he takes a dim view of Judaism.
“Circumcision is risking a disastrous failure of genital health for life” – hence the rock-bottom life expectancy of Jewish males
“Angela Merkel is also a steadfast friend of the State of Israel. Her government just delivered a fourth Dolphin-class submarine to the Israeli Navy.”
Yes, but also the Saudi, the Iranians…the Sudanese, who ever want to buy arms made in Germany
“Its demographic disaster comes from a lack of land, not spiritual sickness.”
Ah, so it need more “lebensraum”? Now, where and when did we hear that last time?