German Politicians Fight for Circumcision

In the wake of the recent decision of a German court to ban non-medical circumcision of infant boys, hospitals are beginning to cease performing the medieval practice.

Sadly, some German politicians with religious constituencies are pushing back against the decision, going so far as planning to float legislation declaring unnecessary circumcision legal.

Of course, leaders of the Abrahamic faiths continue to denounce the court’s refreshingly civilized decision as a form of oppression. According to the head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, circumcision is “non-negotiable.” He’s right on two counts: the victims of this primitive ritual are in no position to negotiate, and its banning by the civil authorities should involve no negotiation whatsoever. Let us hope that this ripple of enlightened defense of the defenseless grows into a wave that washes over the whole of Europe, and, dare we hope further, the New World as well.