https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/feb/18/iceland-ban-male-circumcision-first-european-country
Seems like a rational move tbh... why not let the child decide themselves when they're old enough to consent to it. If they decide at say age 16 to become circumcised then go for it, but someone else deciding for them seems very wrong. Some cultures believe in female genital mutilation (which can be carried out to different degrees, sometimes to an extreme form that goes further than circumcision in terms of the damage/mutilation caused) but we put the rights of the child in that scenario ahead of silly beliefs.
This whole nonsense about religious beliefs being an excuse to not pass sensible laws is so dubious, we've seen it before with say gay marriage, abortion rights etc.. and I suspect there will be further battles in other Western countries re: circumcision and ritual slaughter of animals.
Iceland is poised to become the first European country to outlaw male circumcision amid signs that the ritual common to both Judaism and Islam may be a new battleground over religious freedom.
A bill currently before the Icelandic parliament proposes a penalty of up to six years in prison for anyone carrying out a circumcision other than for medical reasons. Critics say the move, which has sparked alarm among religious leaders across Europe, would make life for Jews and Muslims in Iceland unsustainable.
One in three men globally is thought to be circumcised, the vast majority for religious or cultural reasons. Many Jews and Muslims fear the issue of circumcision could become a proxy for antisemitism and Islamophobia, pointing to similar tensions over religious dress and the ritual slaughter of animals for meat.
Muslim and Jewish leaders attacked the proposal, while Cardinal Reinhard Marx, president of the Catholic Church in the European Union, said the bill was a “dangerous attack” on religious freedom. “The criminalisation of circumcision is a very grave measure that raises deep concern.”
Seems like a rational move tbh... why not let the child decide themselves when they're old enough to consent to it. If they decide at say age 16 to become circumcised then go for it, but someone else deciding for them seems very wrong. Some cultures believe in female genital mutilation (which can be carried out to different degrees, sometimes to an extreme form that goes further than circumcision in terms of the damage/mutilation caused) but we put the rights of the child in that scenario ahead of silly beliefs.
This whole nonsense about religious beliefs being an excuse to not pass sensible laws is so dubious, we've seen it before with say gay marriage, abortion rights etc.. and I suspect there will be further battles in other Western countries re: circumcision and ritual slaughter of animals.