Iceland prepares to trim away religious freedom

Anyone with any illusions that the "progressive" new order in Western society represents a liberation of the human spirit should reflect that it's no longer just about forbidding people to conduct themselves or even speak in accordance with the ethical teachings of their  religions, and sometimes even expressing ethical concerns about behaviors (as opposed to prejudices against people with the characteristics which manifest them). It's even gone as far as Belgium's brave new custom of permitting euthanasia without the consent of those being euthanized if the doctor believes it to be in the best interest of his or her "patient."

Or their victim, depending on one's perspective.

But the Brave New World has gone still further. Iceland, that scrappy little outpost of modern, progressive enlightenment, has decided that circumcising baby boys is bad. There is a vocal segment of our own population which feels the same way, of course, and it's a perfectly legitimate attitude. But what is being discussed in that tiny, volcanic land is not merely eliminating circumcision as a routine procedure in hospitals. It's making the performance of a circumcision for non-medical reasons a crime punishable by six years in prison.

Iceland is a small country, and there aren't all that many rabbis there. So maybe its prison system can hold them all.

The Hypocratic Oath is being cited in defense of the change, even though to my knowledge rabbis and imams don't take that oath. "First, do no harm," it says. Originally, and specifically, it once mentioned abortion as a type of harm physicians vowed not to do. It has been amended, of course, out of respect for the beliefs of feminists.

Jews and Muslims, of course, are another matter; some people's values are sacred, it seems, but those of religious folks are not among them. The content of their consciences is by definition not dictated by the secularist consensus of the social left, so their consciences don't count.

But everyone is free to agree with the majority.