A German court has forbidden a woman from having her six-year old son circumcised because of a risk of psychological damage. The decision comes a year after a similar ruling sparked an international outcry.
Germany's parliament passed a law on Wednesday to allow religious circumcision, clarifying the legal situation after a court said the rite amounted to grievous bodily harm in a ruling that caused international uproar.
Angela Merkel has tried to ease the concerns of Germany's Jews over a disputed court ruling against circumcision, becoming the first chancellor to address the Jewish community's annual council meeting.
If the government has its way, religious circumcision will remain legal in Germany providing it is carried out to medical standards. Angela Merkel's cabinet agreed re-drafted legislation on Wednesday.
The German justice minister has drawn up the outlines of new legislation permitting the circumcision of boys, after a Cologne court controversially deemed the rite to be a crime.
Several hundred demonstrators gathered in Berlin on Sunday to protest for a law safeguarding those practicing religious male circumcision. German lawmakers have promised to meet their demands, but doctors have expressed warnings.
A civil court in Berlin has called for clarification about whether ear-piercing of youngsters constitutes bodily harm after parents of a three-year-old girl sued a practitioner.
A rabbi in Bavaria who has been reported to the authorities on suspicion of committing bodily harm because he carries out circumcisions, says he will not stop.
Two young Jewish men and a Muslim man from Berlin have united to launch a joint petition against a German court's recent decision criminalise non-medical circumcision.
Germans are almost evenly split over the prospect of a law allowing ritual circumcision of boys, a new poll suggests – as the country’s major parties unite to call for such a law.
The German government on Friday pledged quick action to protect the right of Jews and Muslims to circumcise baby boys on religious grounds, after a court ruling that prompted international outcry.
Germany is coming under increasing pressure over the court decision that ruled circumcision was bodily harm and thus a crime – with the Wiesenthal Centre quoting Hitler, and a Muslim group saying it was a blow against integration.
Berlin's Jewish Hospital has suspended all non-medical circumcision procedures amid legal uncertainty resulting from this week's court ruling that it amounts to bodily harm and criminal assault.
German Muslims and Jews spoke with one voice on Wednesday – to denounce a court ruling which said circumcision was a crime of bodily harm. Both communities called for the criminalisation to be reversed.
A German court ruled that circumcision for non-medical reasons is bodily harm - a criminal assault - a decision that is bound to create uproar among Jewish and Muslim communities. Is it a reasonable ruling? <b>Have your say.</b>
