Attacks on religious identity

We should not be in any doubt that the ultimate aim of contemporary secularists is the destruction of all religious identity. As as we know to our cost in post-Christian Western Europe, yesterday's seemingly militant secularism can easily end up as tomorrow's mainstream opinion. 
We can see this in the recent court decision in Cologne [here] where (admittedly, in the wake of a rare botched procedure on a four year old Muslim boy) all religious circumcision was judged to be illegal because it could inflict serious bodily harm on people who had not consented to it.
The ruling was immediately attacked by Jewish and Muslim organisations in Germany and by  Chancellor Angela Merkel who said it was now necessary to introduce legislation “to establish legal certainty” on the ancient rite and prevent it from being subject to prosecution.  


But this attack on circumcision (the fundamental outward sign of Jewish identity) is being taken up here in Britain, as we can hear from a discussion this morning on the BBC's Today programme (link when it becomes available*) between a spokesman for  the National Secular Society (who else?) and the (very) liberal rabbi, Dr Jonathan Romain. It's clear from the interview that the main thrust of the objection to religious circumcision will be on psychological and not medical grounds and hinges around the question of 'consent.' 
It's equally clear that medical circumcision (even where the benefits of such a procedure are marginal to say the least, and potential 'psychological problems' are still present ) is not under attack at all.
It is religious identity itself, particularly as regards rites of initiation (how long will it be before infant baptism is said to be psychologically damaging*),  which is in the sights of those who, following the tradition of both Marxist-Leninism  and fascism, regard the State as the sole rightful arbiter of what is for the good of society and accordingly wish to destroy any rival source of moral and ethical authority, be it traditional family relationships or religious belief.   


*Already the extremist secular gurus, Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins and the late Christopher Hitchens have all freely bandied about the term 'child abuse' to describe the religious upbringing of children

* The link to the page containing the pod-cast of the discussion between Andrew Copson and Dr Jonathan Romain is here