Religious groups, liberal-democratic states and competitive boundary making: The debate over ritual male circumcision in Germany

Abstract

Debates over religious accommodation in liberal-democratic states are common. I offer a framework for making sense of their often-abrupt eruption, unpredictable dynamics and variation across jurisdictions, arguing that they are best understood as instances of competitive group boundary construction and maintenance. Religious believers' interest in honouring their group's customs is not only based on individual devotion but also reflects their interest in maintaining a sense of coherent religious group identity. Liberal-democratic societies simultaneously create liberal-democratic subjects, through public schooling and other means, including immigrant integration policies. These parallel processes of group formation can intersect, sparking conflict. I outline the social mechanisms that generate conflict, illustrating my argument through reference to the debate over ritual male circumcision in Germany.

Jewish Perceptions of Antisemitism in the European Union, 2018: A New Structural Look

“…With regard to the countries included in the 2018 FRA study, however, such sanctions against the ritual slaughtering of animals have already been implemented in Sweden, Denmark, and Belgium, with severe regulation in several other countries (Feder 2019). Legislation to ban circumcision was suggested in different countries but was not implemented anywhere in the countries surveyed here (Triadafilopoulos 2019). In general, government or other public opposition to protection of two significant Jewish rituals can be interpreted as a potential sanction against widely held Jewish tenets, and by extension, against Jews as such.…”