{"id":16396,"date":"2012-06-28T18:01:40","date_gmt":"2012-06-28T17:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adrianwarnock.com\/?p=16396"},"modified":"2020-06-13T06:54:24","modified_gmt":"2020-06-13T05:54:24","slug":"did-germany-just-ban-being-a-jew-or-muslim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2012\/06\/did-germany-just-ban-being-a-jew-or-muslim\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Germany just ban being a Jew or Muslim?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A German court has taken aggressive secularism and it\u2019s attempts to establish an atheocracy<\/a> a step further, and we should all be concerned. What happens in a single European country often spreads elsewhere in Europe and even to the USA. \u00a0In a case involving a Muslim family who had opted to follow their religion and have their son circumcised, the court ruled that circumcision,<\/p>\n

\u201d . . even when done properly by a doctor with the permission of the parents, should be considered as bodily harm if it is carried out on a boy unable to give his own consent\u201d as the boy\u2019s body would be \u201cpermanently and irreparably changed\u201d, and that such an act is \u201cagainst the interests of a child to decide for himself later on to what religion he wishes to belong<\/strong>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 READ MORE at the Guardian.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I have previously written a post which asked, \u201cshould a Christian circumcise their son<\/a>?\u201d and it is clear there that personally I am not an advocate of circumcision<\/strong>. I certainly do not believe that Christians are obliged by the Bible to circumcise for religious reasons, and I don\u2019t share either a cultural background that supports this practice, nor do I believe the suggestion by some that circumcision may have significant health benefits (except in certain rare situations).<\/p>\n

I know that many others would disagree with me about circumcision.\u00a0 I may not want to have my sons circumcised but I defend the right of other parents to choose to do so for religious, cultural, or perceived health benefits.<\/strong> I don\u2019t want my Muslim or Jewish friends to be sued for following their religious traditions that have remained the same for thousands of years<\/strong>.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want my Anglican or Roman Catholic brothers and sisters to be eventually told they cannot follow their church\u2019s tradition to christen babies.\u00a0 Nor do I want the secularists to eventually determine that taking a child to church, mosque, or synagogue<\/strong> is also somehow robbing them of their freedom to choose later in life!<\/p>\n

Ironically, given the wording of this ruling, I personally agree that it is important for a person to be allowed to choose their own religion<\/strong>, which is one reason why I don\u2019t believe in christening babies<\/a>, and is also why I repeatedly criticize certain nations who do not permit adult conversion to or away from a person\u2019s inherited religion.\u00a0 But being circumcised does not necessarily impose a religion on a person for the rest of their lives.<\/p>\n

The nature of true tolerance is precisely allowing other people to disagree profoundly with me in thought and action, without suffering negative consequences<\/strong>.\u00a0 Parents are the best judge of what is best for their children. Unless they are clearly demonstrated to be incompetent, we do not need a nanny state telling us what to do. Whatever is next, one has to wonder?\u00a0Of course this attitude must have limits, so for example it is not tolerance to allow a child to undergo a violent exorcisim<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 But a child has a right to be raised within it\u2019s culture, to have a sense of roots and belonging.\u00a0 If we are to force Jews and Muslims to give up thousands of years of heritage<\/strong>, how will the children involved feel? Will they feel like they are abnormal, and different as they grow up?<\/p>\n

The ultimate reality is at there can be no religious freedom for children. They will inevitably be raised in the faith or non-faith of their parents. A militant secularist is removing the chance of their child from being raised as a Muslim just as surely as a child born to Jewish parents will not be brought up as \u00a0a Christian.<\/p>\n

This decision by the court is nothing less than the abolition of religious freedom in Germany<\/strong>.\u00a0 There is something quite perverse about such a monumental decision being made in a court room rather than by the sovereign parliament of that nation. Freedom that has been hard fought for over many centuries should not be snuffed out by a single judge.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We have got to learn to understand that different groups are going to think and behave differently. It is time we became much more relaxed about that as a society.\u00a0 I am shocked that in Germany of all places, given its past, such an anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim decision <\/strong>would be made!<\/p>\n

Religious freedom is THE issue of the 21st century both in Islamic countries and the West.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A German court has taken aggressive secularism and it\u2019s attempts to establish an atheocracy a step further, and we should all be concerned. What happens in a single European country often spreads elsewhere in Europe and even to the USA. \u00a0In a case involving a Muslim family who had opted to follow their religion and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86,187],"tags":[537,475,538,471,511],"class_list":["post-16396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-misc","category-water-baptism","tag-baptism","tag-church-2","tag-culture","tag-islam","tag-muslims"],"yoast_head":"\nDid Germany just ban being a Jew or Muslim?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A German court has taken aggressive secularism and it's attempts to establish an atheocracy a step further, and we should all be concerned. 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My qualifications and training reflect this integrated background: \u2192 British MB BS medical degree (equivalent to an MD in the USA) \u2192 Postgraduate qualifications in Psychiatry (MRCPsych) and Pharmaceutical Medicine (MFFM, DipPharmMed) \u2192 Theological training courses run by Newfrontiers\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/adrianwarnockpage\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/adrianwarnock\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/author\/awarnock\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Did Germany just ban being a Jew or Muslim?","description":"A German court has taken aggressive secularism and it's attempts to establish an atheocracy a step further, and we should all be concerned. 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