Sloppy reporting! The Rabbi has NOT been charged (by the authorities - as the article implies and posters here seem to believe). The individual mentioned in the article filed a criminal complaint.
BFD. Anyone can file a criminal complaint against someone.
In fact, after that misguided single court ruling a few weeks ago, the Bundestag has passed a resolution that religious circumcision of boys should NOT be a criminal offense. Funny, didn't see that piece of news posted here.
http://www.israelandstuff.com/the-bundestag-defends-circumcision-after-cologne-ban
Wonderful news. I did not know that. Why don’t you post it?
Germany’s lower house of parliament passed a resolution on Thursday to protect the religious circumcision of infant boys after a district court ban on the practice outraged Muslims and Jews and sparked an emotional debate in the country.
The main political parties have criticized the ruling by a Cologne court and Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government has promised a new law to make clear doctors or families will not be punished for carrying out the procedure.
The speed with which lawmakers agreed on the terms of the motion underscored sensitivity to charges of intolerance in a country haunted by its Nazi past.
The resolution, jointly filed by Merkel’s conservatives, their liberal coalition ally (FDP) and the opposition Social Democrats (SPD), demanded that “the government present a draft law in the autumn … that guarantees that the circumcision of boys, carried out with medical expertise and without unnecessary pain, is permitted”.
The new law would overrule the Cologne court decision.
Lawmakers noted in the resolution that the court ruling had deeply unsettled Muslims and Jews in Germany, as they feared the practice would now be outlawed, while doctors were alarmed at the threat of prosecution if they performed operations.
“Jewish and Muslim religious life must continue to be possible in Germany. Circumcision has a central religious significance for Jews and Muslims,” the resolution stated.
Merkel has said Germany risked becoming a “laughing stock” if Jews were not allowed to practice their rituals.
About 120,000 Jews are registered as living in Germany along with around 4 million Muslims, many of whom are from Turkey which has also criticized the court ruling.
Germany’s Central Council of Jews described the Cologne ruling as an “unprecedented and dramatic intrusion” on religious freedom and the Central Council of Muslims in Germany called it a “blatant and inadmissible interference” in parents’ rights.
The court ruling triggered a highly charged debate in Germany over infants’ and parents’ rights, religious freedom and the irreversible practice of circumcision itself.
An overwhelming majority of lawmakers voted in favor of the resolution, although the small opposition Left party opposed it, suggesting that infant boys could have a “symbolic circumcision” then undergo the actual operation when older.
and
Germany’s lower house of parliament passed a resolution on Thursday to protect the religious circumcision of infant boys
The new law would overrule the Cologne court decision.
An overwhelming majority of lawmakers voted in favor of the resolution, although the small opposition Left party opposed it, suggesting that infant boys could have a “symbolic circumcision” then undergo the actual operation when older.
the knee-jerk reactions of many without seeing what the German government is doing is irritating, but what one has come to expect on FR recently...