Blog 4: Circumcision Debate in Germany Reflects Religious-Secular Tension

Rabbi David Goldberg, a 64-year-old Israeli who serves a community of about 400 Jews in Hof, has become an international celebrity after four German citizens filed complaints against him with the local prosecutor. His alleged crime was performing ritual circumcisions. Rabbi Goldberg doesn’t seem worried about the charges that were brought against him. Anyone can file a complaint against anyone else in Germany and never face formal charges. He hasn’t hired a lawyer and refused an offer from one who said he would do it free of charge. A more serious threat in the eyes of Rabbi Goldberg and many Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Europe is the “attack” by secular society on religious ritual. A decision by a lower court in Cologne, against a doctor who circumcised a Muslim boy, has fed a rapidly spreading drive to criminalize a practice that is core to Jewish and Muslim belief. The World Health Organization recommends circumcision as a way to reduce the spread of AIDS but many doctors in European countries regard the practice as harmful and barbaric. Some Jewish leaders say, the circumcision debate has proved how ignorant Germans are about Jewish belief. A German pediatricians’ association and a children’s aid group are helping in leading a petition drive calling for a two year moratorium on circumcision. For religious Jews that would catastrophic because the Bible tells them to circumcise a baby boy eight days after his birth unless there’s a medical reason not to. The complaint against Rabbi Goldberg in Hof was a State Court decision in Cologne in June that found that a doctor committed criminal bodily injury by performing a circumcision on a 4-year-old Muslim boy. Rabbi Goldberg hasn’t had a formal investigation against him and it seems that they won’t be happening anytime soon.

                This situation provides a religious division between the same religion.  Jews and Muslims are in a debate over circumcision and whether it is right or wrong. The problem in that is that some Jews believe it is harmful and some Jews believe it is what God wanted. So which one is right?? This is a social issue because a significant amount of people know what is going on and something can be done about it. German Jews have already tried to stop the circumcision process by attempting to put a two year moratorium on it. The culture for Jews has completely changed due to this debate and has caused a riff in the belief of their values. This could also be considered a public issue because it affects the immediate lives of many individuals. Parents who decide not to get their baby boy circumcised have to deal with Jews who believe that it’s against their religious belief to not get him circumcised. A lot of religious Jews believe that without being circumcised you cannot enter the Jewish society. This is a difference in not only beliefs but values also. In a way this could possibly be considered a value conflict because even though they are from the same religious group their values differ immensely. Both groups of Jews believe that their values are correct and should dominate over the other. Regardless, this has caused a huge controversial debate between Jews.

  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/world/europe/circumcision-debate-in-europe-reflects-deeper-tensions.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0