Proposed male circumcision ban causes uproar in Iceland
ON A chilly afternoon in Reykjavik, rabbis and imams from across Europe have packed themselves into a stuffy conference centre beneath snow-capped mountains.
“I say to my respected friends in Iceland, please never send the signal that Jews are not welcome in this country,” says Jonathan Arkush, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, as several in the audience nod their heads.
“What you are engaged in is a sort of secularist fundamentalism, which is a fundamentally illiberal thing for a Western democracy to do,” he continues, staring at a tall, bespectacled politician sitting in the front row.
The man who has drawn his ire is Lafur ór Gunnarsson, an Icelandic MP who is at the centre of a global outcry after he proposed a bill to ban the ritual circumcision of children. If passed, the bill would be the first of its kind in Europe and could see parents who have their children circumcised sent to prison for up to six years.
The debate over circumcision is growing in Europe, with Denmark considering a similar proposal, which worries Jewish and Muslim communities. It also is being watched closely in the UK, where campaigners hope British doctors will follow Iceland’s lead.
Men Do Complain, one such British group, says the procedure is “without doubt” an infringement of children’s rights, as “there is no disease being cured, so it is a complete breach of medical ethics”.
Around one in three men worldwide are circumcised, with most Jewish children undergoing the procedure within a few days of being born. In Muslim communities, boys are often circumcised before they reach seven. But the ancient practice is virtually alien to Iceland’s homogeneous population, which includes only 3 000 Muslims and just 35 Jews.
“We see this as a human rights issue,” says Dr Gunnarsson. “Does a covenant with God trump a child’s right to bodily integrity? I’m not sure. I don’t think so.”
But beyond Iceland, Muslim and Jewish groups in Europe and America are worried. Leaders from other faiths have also stepped in, with Cardinal Reinhard Marx, one of the most senior Catholic figures in Europe, branding the bill a “dangerous attack” on religious freedom. Polls suggest around 50% of Icelanders support the ban.
At the conference, the atmosphere is civil but tense as one religious leader after another explains to sceptical Icelanders why it is integral to their beliefs. Ahmad Seddeeq, a local imam, compares the procedure to piercing a child’s ears or removing their tonsils.
Then, as Gunnarsson listens intently, a spokesman for the Islamic Foundation of Iceland says the ban may affect a growing number of Muslim asylum seekers, who could not send their children back to Iraq or Syria for the procedure if it is outlawed.
But not everyone seems to agree with these arguments. Intact Iceland, a pressure group in favour of the ban, considers circumcision without consent child abuse.
“We have one mission only, which is to advocate for the right of the child not to be circumcised as they would have to live with consequences for the rest of their lives that they did not choose themselves,” says Sveinn Svavarsson, the group’s spokesman.
Ironically, as Iceland grapples with the suggestion that circumcision amounts to child abuse, the country is about to welcome its first rabbi, Avi Feldman. “Circumcision serves as the bedrock of Jewish life,” he said. “For those who value religious freedom, the proposed ban is naturally a matter of great concern.”
If nothing else, the bill has brought about an unprecedented level of solidarity among Icelandic religious groups, according to Father Jakob Rolland, a Catholic priest who organised the conference. Though they do not unanimously oppose the bill – some members of Iceland’s Viking religion are in favour – they have all vowed to speak up on behalf of Jews and Muslims for religious freedom.
Whether they will succeed in amending the bill, or sinking it altogether, remains unclear. It is currently at committee stage, to soon be debated in the Icelandic parliament. —