Germany: still happily espousing racial and religious prejudice, apparently

So this article was fairly astonishing. The heart of the matter:

"In a ruling that underlines the tension between Muslim customs and European laws, the judge, Christa Datz-Winter, noted that the couple came from a Moroccan cultural milieu, in which it is common for husbands to beat their wives. The Koran, she wrote in her decision, sanctions such physical abuse."

There are so many offensive elements in that paragraph! Let's count:

1. Muslim "tradition" supercedes German law in a court of law? What? How? What?

2. The Koran does not sanction spousal abuse. It does not. Really.

3. A non-Muslim German judge is, shockingly, not generally considered qualified to interpret the Koran. I might argue that her interpretation is a valid opinion if she reads Arabic, but (a) I'm fairly sure that is not the case and (b) her interpretation of a religious text STILL should not impact her ruling in a court of law.

4. Less grounded in rational argument, but I find it particularly horrifying that the judge was female. How can she sanction abuse that she evades only by luck of birth?

5. The religious and racial prejudice here is staggering.

On a side note, I'm going to Morocco in less than a month. Maybe I'll be beaten! Since it's part of the "Moroccan cultural milieu" and all. Maybe I'll be stoned for an obscure religious reason. Wouldn't that make a good travel story!

The only consolation of the article is the vehemence with which the German public and court system responded. Still, I remain horrified that it took an appeal to the press before action was taken.

Stories about religious impact on secular law always make me think of the India. The Indian constitution provides differing sets of laws depending on whether the citizen is a Christian, Muslim, Hindu, atheist, etc. Being an American, raised with a quickie, one-off constitution, I can't even wrap my brain around such a method of law. It seems to work to a sufficient degree, although cases that involve individuals of varying religious affiliations just blow my mind. There's a reason processing court cases takes a ridiculously long time in India.

Still, there are elements that I still find difficult to accept: it is much easier for a woman to acquire a divorce is she's Christian than if she's Muslim. Is that okay? On the one hand, I think it's nifty that the law is so accommodating of the diverse faiths of its citizens. On the other hand, it makes me uneasy to see restrictions applied unevenly to the citizenship. And in my darker moments, I fantasize about evangelical Christians in America getting just the government they want. So it's a mixed bag!

Conclusions: Judge Christa Datz-Winter is an embarrassment to Germany, the Indian constitution is really confusing, and I can be a vindictive bitch sometimes.