Follow us on
Welcome Guest! You are here: Home » Life & Style
Norway's FrP votes to ban circumcision, hijab; Serious blow to religious freedom, say Jews, Muslims

Wednesday May 10, 2017 8:44 PM, AFP

Circumcision
[A child is being circumcised. Reuters/File photo.]

Stockholm:
Norway's anti-immigrant and libertarian Progress Party (FrP), which is part of the ruling coalition, voted on Tuesday to ban circumcision for boys under 16 and bar hijabs in public schools.

The decisions were taken at the national annual conference of the FrP, in which the advocates of the circumcision ban claimed it causes "mental and physical harm to children."

Norwegian Premier Erna Solberg is the head of a coalition between the Conservatives and the Progress Party. The third largest party FrP has 29 of the 169 seats in the Norwegian parliament.

Meanwhile, the leader Siv Jensen, in an interview to Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten said that she was against forbidding circumcision.

"This is very sad. They [the Progress Party] must know they won't get a majority for this in Parliament. It seems like they want to send a signal that we are unwelcome in the country," Ervin Kohn, a Jewish community leader in Norway, told Aftenposten.

On the Muslim front, the Union of European Turkish Democrats (UETD) Vice Chairman Fatih Zingal told Daily Sabah in an interview that the decision harms religious freedom in Europe.

"Religious freedom is one of the pillars of European law," he said.

"We experienced a similar situation in Germany as well. They also proposed to ban circumcision for boys under 16, then we and the Jewish diaspora opposed it. As it is a religious obligation for Jews to circumcise their children on the eighth day after birth, they had to backtrack on the proposal," he said.

"This is a serious blow to religious freedom," he added.

Circumcision is a common practice among Jews and Muslims.

 

 


Share this page
More Headlines
Nagaland board HSLC Class X results 2017 declared at nbsenagaland.com, Pass percentage 70.19
Nagaland board HSSLC Class 12 results 2017 declared on nbsenagaland.com, Check toppers' name here
Meghalaya board HSSLC Science, Commerce results 2017 declared, Girls outshine boys again
39-yr-old Emmanuel Macron becomes France's youngest-ever president
Over a million across India appear for NEET 2017 under "humiliating dress code"
Revised bill to declare Israel a Jewish state gets cabinet committee's approval
Nagaland board HSLC Class X results 2017 to be declared Monday May 8: Officially confirmed
Meghalaya board HSSLC Science, Commerce results 2017 likely to be declared Monday May 8
Benefits of antipsychotic medications outweigh the risks: Experts
Bone marrow transplant, an alternate therapy for multiple sclerosis
Robotic drill likely to reduce surgery time from hours to minutes
Cone snail venom opens up possibilities of designing human ailments drugs
A protein discovered to offer protection against Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Green body finds fault in 'Swachh Survekshan' survey methodology
Delhi Gas Leak: Number of affected students 300, Govt orders probe
Two Hindus mistaken as Muslims thrashed by cow vigilantes in Greater Noida
Over 170 students of Rani Jhansi Girls School hospitalised after gas leakage in Tughlaqabad, Delhi
Andhra Pradesh SSC Class X Results 2017 will be declared 03:00 pm today at bseap.org
Andhra Pradesh SSC Class X Results 2017 to be declared today at bseap.org
It regains confidence of women, says Saudi cleric after his wife roamed in public with face uncovered
 Post Comments
Note: By posting your comments here you agree to the terms and conditions of www.ummid.com