SWITZERLAND: Ban religious circumcision - poll

The Local (Switzerland)
July 31, 2012

Ban religious circumcision: Swiss

By Lyssandra Sears (news@thelocal.ch)

A new survey has shown that some 64 percent of Swiss think that religious circumcision should be banned.

Of the 8,000 participants who took part in the survey, conducted by news site 20 Minuten Online, over 67 percent of men and 56 percent of women thought that the practice should be banned.

Interestingly, almost a third of circumcised men also spoke in favour of a ban, with 12 percent wishing in hindsight that they had not been circumcised.

Jewish and Muslim respondents, for whom the practice has religious significance, were against a ban. Some 93 percent of Muslim respondents and 75 percent of Jewish respondents said they would not want a ban. [Implying 7% of Muslims and 25% of Jews would not object to one.]

DecolonizationOver one quarter of the male respondents who took part in the survey were circumcised, with 96 percent of Muslims and 89 percent of Jews having received the intervention. Twenty percent of those who had been circumcised did not belong to either faith. [Suggesting a non-religious circumcision rate of 5%]

Approximately 60 percent of those who voted no to the ban said that they believed such a ban would be an infringement on religious freedom.

Almost a third of the women questioned said they saw no benefit in having a penis circumcised. Nevertheless, half said it was a good thing from a hygiene point of view. The remainder admitted to not knowing whether there were advantages to circumcision or not.