The following story comes from Deutsche Welle (DW - http://www.dw.de/ ), Germany's international broadcaster, and can be found at DW's page here - http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,16051790,00.html .

A court in Cologne has ruled that circumcising young children for religious reasons causes  grievous bodily harm and is illegal, even with parental consent. Jewish and Muslim  organizations have blasted the decision.

The regional court in the western city of Cologne ruled on Tuesday that child circumcision  constituted "illegal bodily harm," even with parental consent. In the verdict, the court  said that the "fundamental right of the child to bodily integrity outweighed the fundamental  rights of the parents."
 
The case came about after a four-year-old Muslim boy's circumcision led to complications,  and he checked back into hospital days later with severe bleeding. Prosecutors then charged  the physician - identified under German media practices only as Dr. K. - who carried out the  operation at the parents' request with grievous bodily harm.
 
The court acquitted the doctor, however, saying that he did not know the procedure was  illegal so it would have been a miscarriage of justice to sentence him. This verdict, unless  it is overturned at appeal in a higher court, would likely serve as precedent in future  cases, making future guilty verdicts possible.
 
"A child's body is irreparably and permanently changed by a circumcision," the court said.  "This change contravenes the interests of the child to decide later about his own religious  affiliation."
  
Jewish group says verdict attacks religious freedom
 
Dieter Graumann, the president of the German Central Council of Jews, said the verdict was  "an unprecedented and dramatic intervention in religious communities' right to self- determination." The book of Genesis instructs believers that men should be circumcised.
 
"Circumcision of newborn boys is a fixed part of the Jewish religion and has been practiced  worldwide for centuries," Graumann said. "This religious right is respected in every part of  the world."
  
He called on the government to clarify Tuesday's ruling and to protect religious freedom  from attack.
 
The World Health Organization estimates that roughly one-third of men in the world are  circumcised. Many are Muslims or Jews circumcised for religious reasons, but some parents  also choose to circumcise their boys on health and hygiene grounds. The court also said that  circumcision on medical grounds was not illegal.

I'm not sure where I stand on this issue. Part of me wants to congratulate the Court for sticking to its enlightenment principles, part of me regrets the effect that this is likely to have on Germany's small Jewish population, but part of me wants to sing and dance that the arrogant and unwanted Muslims in Germany are finally getting a taste of their own medicine and are being forced to comply with civilised western values.