Icelandic bishop says circumcision ban will ‘criminalize’ Jewish, Muslim life

The bishop of Iceland says the country’s proposed ban on circumcision would effectively criminalize both Jewish and Muslim religious practice in the Scandinavian country.

“The danger that arises, if this bill becomes law, is that Judaism and Islam will become criminalized religions, and that individuals who subscribe to these faiths will be banned in this country and unwelcome,” Bishop Agnes M. Sigurðardóttir says in a statement according to the Reykjavik Grapevine. “We must avoid all such forms of extremism.”

Earlier this month, Icelandic lawmakers from four political parties introduced a bill in parliament that would ban the nonmedical circumcision of boys younger than 18 and impose imprisonment of up to six years on offenders.

Separately, Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, the president of the Conference of European Rabbis, also expresses “extreme” concern about the proposed legislation.

“Whilst the Jewish population in Iceland is small, we cannot ignore the dangerous precedent this sets within Europe and the implications it has on Jews’ ability to carry out our religion in an open and free manner,” he says in a statement to The Independent.