Not Good

I'm no expert on German law nor the Koran. Maybe Matt would have something more intelligent to say about this.

But I am shocked by that German judge Christa Datz-Winter ruled against granting a divorce to a Muslim woman on the grounds of spousal abuse because she said the Koran sanctioned wife beating.

What???

It seems that Datz-Winter seriously misinterpreted the particular passage of the Koran in question. Even Muslim scholars are saying so. But what I think is happening here is that we have a judge trying to be as culturall sensitive as possible in a nation with tense racial issues. However, not only is it clear that under German law the Koran has no power, but Datz-Winter is just wrong. There is a place for cultural sensitivity in the world. But there are also definite standards of right and wrong. Spousal abuse is one of those things. I don't care what the cultural issues are. Nations simply cannot allow people to abuse their partners legally. Nothing good can come of this.

My favorite thing about the case is this quote from a spokesmen for the court, “The ruling is not justifiable, but the judge herself cannot explain it at this moment,” he said. Ah.

Very, very disturbing.