The impact of religion on attitudes towards abortion and euthanasia. An empirical study among Italian students

Item does not contain fulltextAmong the sensitive topics of the current public debate in Italy, bioethical questions are certainly to be found, more specifically those questions about the issues surrounding the beginning and the end of life, namely the ethical legitimacy and the legal boundaries of abortive and euthanasian practices. In this study we seek to explore the role of religion in this debate, not only at the level of church doctrine but also at the level of personal convictions and ideas of a Italian young people, which may shape the future of this debate. The empirical findings of this study, on a sample of secondary school students (N = 1087), show that religious beliefs and practices do have a significant impact on the students’ attitudes on abortion and euthanasia and highlight a relevant role of religion in the current public debate on bioethical issues

An uneasy encounter. Male circumcision, Jewish difference, and German law

The religious tradition of male circumcision has come increasingly under attack across a number of European states. While critics of the practice argue that the problem is about children’s rights and the proper relationship between secular and religious traditions, Jews tend to see these attacks within the longer history of attempts to assimilate and remake them according to the norms of the majority. Using the 2012 German legal controversy concerning the issue as my vantage point, I explore how contemporary criticism of male circumcision remains entangled with ambivalence toward Judaism and the Jews as the “other.” Through a close reading of the arguments, I show how opponents use the seemingly neutral language of universal human rights to (re)make Jewish difference according to the norms of the majority. I conclude by arguing that such an approach to this issue runs the risk of turning Jews once again into strangers at a time when cultural anxieties are troubling European societies