Circumcision is now banned in Germany. The ruling stemmed from a circumcision that lead to complications with a 4-year old boy. Is Germany ready to do battle with Muslims, Jews and Christians because of one circumcision that resulted in complications?
The logic of this decision trumps everything.
Now let me get this straight: becausse of a complication following circumcision, the boy suffered and as a result circumcision is now banned in Germany. The ruling by the district court of Cologne says circumcision "for the purpose of religious upbringing constitutes a violation of physical integrity".
If we pursue the same type of logic with all other medical procedures that have gone wrong, very soon most medical procedures would be banned in Germany.
BUT: the bigger issue is an issue of lack of Inter-Cultural Intelligence. I am wondering if the legal teams and the judges involved every thought about the wider consequences of their decision. They obviously were not practicing Inter-Cultural Intelligence as they were going through the evidence and as they formulated their final decision. The other thing that is happening here is a classical pitfall in what we would call a "Guilt-Innocence" oriented society. Germany is very "Guilt-Innocence" (wrong<>right) oriented and the legal system is a reflection of that. This case shows that if you just follow the letter of the law and apply it outside the context of relationship and societal dynamics, you end up with a decision that doesn't enhance society as a whole, but actually cripples it to fully be what it was intended to be.
It also points to a serious lack of Cultural Learner mentality and too much Cultural Critic mentality.
The logic of this decision trumps everything.
Now let me get this straight: becausse of a complication following circumcision, the boy suffered and as a result circumcision is now banned in Germany. The ruling by the district court of Cologne says circumcision "for the purpose of religious upbringing constitutes a violation of physical integrity".
If we pursue the same type of logic with all other medical procedures that have gone wrong, very soon most medical procedures would be banned in Germany.
BUT: the bigger issue is an issue of lack of Inter-Cultural Intelligence. I am wondering if the legal teams and the judges involved every thought about the wider consequences of their decision. They obviously were not practicing Inter-Cultural Intelligence as they were going through the evidence and as they formulated their final decision. The other thing that is happening here is a classical pitfall in what we would call a "Guilt-Innocence" oriented society. Germany is very "Guilt-Innocence" (wrong<>right) oriented and the legal system is a reflection of that. This case shows that if you just follow the letter of the law and apply it outside the context of relationship and societal dynamics, you end up with a decision that doesn't enhance society as a whole, but actually cripples it to fully be what it was intended to be.
It also points to a serious lack of Cultural Learner mentality and too much Cultural Critic mentality.
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