Secular bioethical policy is often antagonistic toward religious belief. Indeed, it seeks to impose its views on individuals as much as the Inquisition did.
How else explain the European Council’s decision to seek a Europe-wide ban on non medical circumcision. From the Jerusalem Post story:
A resolution that calls male ritual circumcision a “violation of the physical integrity of children” was passed overwhelmingly by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe…
The resolution calls on states to “clearly define the medical, sanitary and other conditions to be ensured for practices such as the non-medically justified circumcision of young boys.”
It also calls on member states to “initiate a public debate, including intercultural and interreligious dialogue, aimed at reaching a large consensus on the rights of children to protection against violations of their physical integrity according to human rights standards” and to “adopt specific legal provisions to ensure that certain operations and practices will not be carried out before a child is old enough to be consulted.”
Circumcision is fundamental to Jewish and Muslim identity. If you deny a Jewish boy the rite, you keep him from full inclusion in his culture. And if he then elects to be circumcised in adulthood, it is a potentially dangerous procedure.
The right of faith isn’t absolute, of course. In the USA, if the government can show a compelling state interest, it can proscribe actions based in faith. Female genital mutilation qualifies, as one example, because it seeks to interfere with normal sexual function and is intended as a tool of oppression.
The EC’s circumcision decision? It’s primarily an expression of religious animus, a form of cultural hegemony.