German Court Ruling over Ritual Circumcision: Kulturkampf against Muslims and Jews

A court in Germany has ruled that circumcision on religious grounds amounts to bodily harm, making it potentially punishable by law. Sociologist of religion Rolf Schieder says this is an unacceptable move that questions the right to religious freedom Upon first glance, the Cologne district court is correct: any medical intervention in the case of…

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Update: Dutch Senate Rejects Ritual Slaughter

12 June 2012   The Dutch Upper House has rejected a ban on ritual animal slaughter without anaesthetizing animals first. Earlier this month Jewish and Islamic organizations had agreed to an agreement stipulating that ritual slaughter was permitted in the case that an animal would be dead forty seconds after the cut was administered to…

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Ritual Slaughter Reforms Established in Netherlands

June 5 2012 Religious leaders in the Netherlands have signed an agreement with Deputy Minister Henk Bleker amending the terms of ritual animal slaughter in the country. The agreement states that an animal must be unconscious within forty seconds of the cut to its throat, or else must be stunned. The minister, interest groups and…

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Update: Dutch MPs to Oppose Ban on Ritual Slaughter

14 December 2011   A debate in the Netherlands over a proposed ban on ritual slaughter continues with a majority of senators in the upper house of parliament now opposing the ban. A large majority of MPs in the lower house voted in favour of a ban in June, though Jewish and Muslim groups oppose…

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Dutch Ban on Ritual Slaughter in Doubt

October 19 2011 The future of a proposed ban on ritual slaughter in the Netherlands is in doubt, as the ruling VVD party appears unlikely to support the legislation in the senate. VVD Senator Sybe Schaap commented that the ban, which has drawn criticism from Muslim and Jewish religious organizations, ‘has a poor legal framework’….

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