Volker Beck

Beck 2010

Volker Beck (* December 12, 1960 in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, Germany) is a German politician (Greens). Since 1994, he is Member of the German Bundestag. At the moment he is religion policy spokesman of the Greens Bundestag group. Previously, he was Chief Whip of his party, spokesperson for human rights policy and a member of the Council of elders of the Bundestag (17th Legislature).

Religious Circumcision

After a judgment of the Cologne Court in 2012 which defined the male circumcision for religious reasons illegal and punishable by law, Beck claimed legal rules to strengthen freedom of religion. Substance of the decision was the balance between freedom of religion of parents and a child's right to physical integrity. The court ruled that the decisive factor is not the parents' right to freedom of religion and freedom of education; decisive is nothing but the child's right to physical integrity. In this context, Beck said: "We need time to think about whether we need to protect the religious freedom of Jewish and Muslim community better."

Conflicting Explanations

Beck has been working for decades for the legal equality of homosexuals. In relation to the persecution and killing of homosexuals in other countries he spoke out clearly against the encroachments of religions in the rights of others from (while the ban on the killing of another human being in a state of law needs no constraint "in the name of religion"):

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Die Tötung eines anderen Menschen im Namen der Religion ist im Rechts­staat ein Verbrechen. Religion rechtfertigt keine Übergriffe in die Rechte anderer. Translation: "The killing of another human being in the name of religion is a crime in the state of law. Religion does not justify attacks on the rights of others." – Volker Beck

In the Circumcision Debate he still denies, however, that religions engage here in the rights of others and that children are at all bearers of human rights:

“	Die Religionsfreiheit rechtfertigt keine Eingriffe in die Rechte Dritter. Dies ist auch bei der Be­schneidung nicht der Fall. Translation: "Freedom of religion does not justify interference with the rights of third parties. This is not the case with circumcision at all." – Volker Beck