At a time where anti-Semitic acts seem to be on the rise in Europe, a bill was proposed in Denmark that will affect mainly Jews – the banning of male child circumcision. Denmark's National Council for Children has recommended the legislation of a law banning circumcision of boys under the age of 15.The passing of this law would make the Jewish mitzvah and tradition of circumcising a child on his eighth day a crime.
The country's Ethics Council supported the proposal and now only the parliament's medical committee can intervene and prevent the proposal from being heard."Circumcision is the irreversible damage to a child's body before he is given the chance to object," the National Council for Children argued.The Council further claimed that the banning of male child circumcision was a matter of equality among the sexes. "Just like female circumcision was banned five years ago, male circumcision should be banned," the Council said.
The new proposal caused a storm among the Jewish and Muslim populations in Denmark, with 95% of the 7,000 Jewish population circumcising their sons. [...]
Again??? or still?
ReplyDeleteDenmark's National Council for Children calls for outlawing male circumcision
December 2003
We have learned that this past December, Denmark's National Council for Children called for the outlawing of male circumcision. Although in 2001 Swedish legislators came close to outlawing male circumcision outright prior to passing their historic law restricting it in 2001, this is to our knowledge the first such outright call for making the practice illegal by a government-affiliated agency. The NCC was established in 1994 and made permanent by the Danish Parliament in 1997. The NCC works to safeguard the rights of children, assessing the conditions under which children in Denmark live in relation to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and offering advice and consultancy to authorities on issues concerning children's conditions and take children's views on board in our work. While politically independent, the Council receives an annual grant from the Danish government and is linked with the Danish Ministry of Social Affairs. The NCC's chairperson and two board members are appointed by the Danish Minister for Social Affairs.
It is going on here too:
Support Grows for Ban on Male Circumcision
Bill proposals to regulate male circumcision now circulating in Congress and fifteen U.S. state legislatures.
Matthew Hess, President of MGMbill.org, said that infant circumcision is sexual assault. “Male circumcision permanently damages male sexual function, and it is done forcefully, without the consent of the child. Just as cutting off any part of a baby girl’s genital anatomy would be considered a criminal act, amputation of a boy’s foreskin for medically unnecessary reasons should be treated as a crime of equal stature. If a fully informed adult wants to undergo circumcision for cosmetic, religious, or other personal reasons, then that is a decision he can make after he turns eighteen.”
Male circumcision legislation is also becoming a topic of discussion in several European parliaments. Sweden became the first developed country in modern times to regulate and restrict male circumcision on human rights grounds in 2001, and in 2003 the Denmark National Council for Children called on lawmakers to ban the practice for the benefit of the children. In 2004, well-known Dutch Member of Parliament Ayaan Hirsi Ali called on fellow legislators to enact a similar ban, and she recently stated on a Dutch television documentary that male circumcision is “a form of mutilation” and that “the consequences can be worse for boys than for girls” when compared to some common types of female circumcision.
In addition to all 540 members of Congress, state legislatures that received MGM Bill proposals from their local residents today included California, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia.
Sweden restricted circumcision in 2001
"Sweden restricts circumcisions". BBC Europe (October 1, 2001). Retrieved on 2006-10-18.
"Swedish Jews and Muslims object to the new law, saying it violates their religious rights."
Reuters (June 7, 2001). "Jews protest Swedish circumcision restriction". Canadian Children's Rights Council. Retrieved on 2006-10-18.
"A WJC spokesman said, ‘This is the first legal restriction placed on a Jewish rite in Europe since the Nazi era. This new legislation is totally unacceptable to the Swedish Jewish community.’"
Oh, well, yet again:
ReplyDelete"SOMETHING IS ROTTEN IN THE STATE OF DENMARK!
(Hamlet. Act 1, scene 4, 87–91)
Even Shakespeare knew it way back then!
This will never pass. A similar petition was brought before the Israeli supreme court a few years ago and didn't pass. Why?
ReplyDeleteNot because of us. Because they didn't want tens of thousands of Muslims rioting over infringement of their religious practices.
And Denmark has plenty Muslims.
Please resist the urge to read the following as either irony or satire: This may actually be a good thing. There may well be no sound reason for milah other than divine ordinance, the same as kashrus. If circumcision were illegal in the US, every circumcision would become an instant opportunity for major mesirus nefesh and kiddush hashem. Heaven only knows we've grown weak and complacent and could use an opportunity like this to find our inner spine through targeted suffering.
ReplyDelete