The Starting at Home Principle: On Ritual Animal Slaughter, Male Circumcision and Proportionality

Iddo Porat

Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 2021, vol. 41, issue 1, 30-58

Abstract: —Many argue that ritual animal slaughter and male circumcision should be banned using a balancing and proportionality approach: freedom of religion considerations are outweighed by the infringements of the rights of children and animals. I argue that the proportionality approach to the problem is misguided and suggest applying an approach that I term starting at home: members of a minority have a right not to be subjected to more stringent moral criteria than the majority is willing to subject itself to. There is, in other words, a right given to the minority that the majority start with its own moral rectitude before taking care of the minority’s. Applying this principle to ritual animal slaughter and male circumcision, I argue that banning these practices in Europe is wrong.

Keywords: circumcision; ritual animal slaughter; proportionality; freedom of religion; discrimination; cultural bias; children’s rights; animal rights (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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