21st-century Iceland combines a rejection of biblical truth; an Islamic invasion; a return to ancient paganism; and discrimination against Judiasm

As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly. Proverbs 26:11

Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Romans 1:24-32

Iceland provides an excellent example of how Western society in the early part of the 21st century, with its increasing rejection of Christianity, isn't progressing, but is instead regressing into ancient paganism. First, this item, as reported by Iceland Magazine, January 14, 2016 (bold, links in original:

Iceland seems to be on its way to becoming an even more secular nation, according to a new poll. Less than half of Icelanders claim they are religious and more than 40% of young Icelanders identify as atheist. Remarkably the poll failed to find young Icelanders who accept the creation story of the Bible. 93.9% of Icelanders younger than 25 believed the world was created in the big bang, 6.1% either had no opinion or thought it had come into existence through some other means and 0.0% believed it had been created by God.

The poll, which was conducted by the polling firm Maskína on behalf of Siðmennt, The Icelandic Ethical Humanist Association, an association of Icelandic atheists, found that 46.4% of Icelanders identify as religious, which is the lowest figure to date.

Younger people and inhabitants of Reykjavík are least religious
Older people are far more likely to profess religious beliefs and to identify as Christian than those who are younger. 80.6% of those older than 55 identified as Christian and only 11.8% said they were atheists. At the same time 40.5% of people who were 25 years or younger said they were atheists, and only 42% said they were Christian. Traditional Christian beliefs also seem more common outside of Reykjavík, where 77-90% of people identified as Christian and 7.1-18 were atheists, compared to 56.2% of people in Reykjavík who identified as Christian and 31.4% as atheist.

0.0% of people younger than 25 believe God created the world
The poll found an even more dramatic difference between different generations when it probed how people believed the world had been created. Of those younger than 25 93.9% said the world had been created in the big bang and 0.0% believed God had created the world. 77.7% of those between 25 and 44 years old believed the world had been created in the big bang and 10.1% believed God had created the world. In all but the oldest age category a majority accepted the big-bang theory. Only 46.1% of those older than 55 believed in the big bang, and nearly a fourth, 24.5% believed God had created the world.

People in the oldest category were also most unsure about the origins of existence, as 16.6% of those older than 55 saying they either didn’t know or had no opinion on the origin of the world.

Growing support for separation of Church and State
The poll also found a growing percentage of Icelanders support the full separation of church and state. Out of those who expressed an opinion on the subject 72% supported the full separation of church and state and 28% oppose the separation of church and state. Currently the Icelandic constitution stipulates that the state church of Iceland is the Icelandic Evangelical Lutheran Church.

As reported by Ashley Cowburn in the U.K. newspaper The Independent, January 16, 2016:

...One Reddit user, however, criticised the poll as misleading. They said: “The question in the asked in the poll was confusing. It was ‘how do you think the universe came to be?’ and the answers were ‘the universe came to be in the big bang’ and ‘God created the universe’ or ‘Don’t know’ and ‘other’…"

The user added: “Many people believe that God is the root cause of the big bang, and the comments in the ‘Other’ section of the poll (page 14) are overwhelmingly about something to that effect, e.g. ‘God created the world in the big bang’ .

Other users pointed to the fact that the Big Bang theory was originally hypothesised by the Catholic priest and physicist Georges Lemaître.

In October 2014 Pope Francis said the theories of evolution and the Big Bang were real and God is not a "magician with a magic wand". Speaking at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Pope made comments which experts said put an end to the “pseudo theories” of creationism and intelligent design that some argue were encouraged by his predecessor, Benedict XVI.

Francis explained that both scientific theories were not incompatible with the existence of a creator – arguing instead that they “require it”.

It should be kept in mind, of course, that the poll mentioned above was commissioned by the Icelandic Ethical Humanist Association, who aren't exactly unbiased in either the question asked or the answers hoped for. The result may be in no small part the result of apostasy in what passes for Christianity in Iceland, as exemplified by this item, reported by Iceland Magazine, October 30, 2015 (bold, link in original):

The congress of the Lutheran State Church, which was held this week, resolved that the church would wholeheartedly support same-sex marriage. The Bishop of Iceland, Agnes M. Sigurðardóttir, told the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service RÚV that same-sex marriage was no longer a controversial topic within the church and that she and other priests respect both the law and human rights.

Priests’ religious liberties vs human rights and the law
While same-sex marriages have been legal since 2010 many in the Lutheran State Church has remained somewhat ambivalent about marrying two individuals of the same sex. Several priests have talked about the importance of respecting their religious or moral freedom, stressing individual priests within the church should have the right to refuse to perform marriage ceremonies if they were opposed to same-sex marriage.

The bishop had previously stated that she supported the idea of priests having a religious or moral right to refuse to perform same-sex marriages. The Minister of the Interior, Ólöf Nordal, had also stated publicly she supported priests’ “moral freedom” to refuse to perform same-sex marriages. Both women have now reversed their positions, it seems, as Ólöf recently stated she believed priests in the state Lutheran Church could not refuse to perform legal marriage ceremonies.

Christian love wins out
Recently the bishop wrote a letter to the Ministry of the Interior, stressing that she would never support rules that violated basic human rights. Asked about her change of heart, Agnes tells RÚV she simply respects the law: “I just respect the law, and this is what the law says”, adding that she does not believe this is an issue within the church anymore. “What matters in this case, is that we follow Christ’s gospel of kindness and love.”

The reader will note that the Lutheran State Church has female bishops, which is evidence that the church's apostasy predates the issue of sodomite/lesbian "marriage." And of course, the pseudo-bishop uses the term "Christ's gospel of kindness and love" to describe a rejection of His word and authority.

With "Christianity" in Iceland falling into apostasy, Islam is ready to fill the spiritual vacuum, which has alarmed even the country's President, as reported by Magnus Sveinn Helgason in Iceland Magazine, November 24, 2015 (bold, links in original):

The president of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, fears that Saudi Arabian financing of a Reykjavík mosque will fuel radical Islam in Iceland. The president told the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service that he was shocked to the point of paralysis when he learned last March, in a meeting with Saudi Arabian Ambassador, that the government of Saudi Arabia had decided to interfere in Icelandic religious life by donating one million US Dollars to the planned mosque. The president did not speak up about these concerns until after the terrorists attacks in Paris.

Controversial statements about radical Islam and Saudi Arabia
The president claimed Saudi Arabia has not only fostered religious extremism but also forces which have attacked the West and western values.

In a second interview with the local radio station Bylgjan, following the Paris terrorist attacks, the president had warned that Iceland could no longer act as if violent religious extremism did not concern Iceland and that we should not let "childish naiveté" delude us to think these problems could be solved simply with tolerance and social reforms.

These statements, especially the statement about “childish naiveté”, has caused some controversy in Iceland, as some feel the president has been stoking the fires of islamophobia. Others have raised questions as to why the president did not make his concerns over the planned Saudi Arabian funding of the Reykjavík mosque known immediately.

Many on Icelandic social media have also speculated whether the announcements are being made in preparation for a re-election bid by Ólafur Ragnar, whose fifth term as president comes to an end in 2016. The president, who is the second longest sitting president in Europe, has not yet announced whether he is seeking a re-election.

Forces which have attacked Western Civilization threaten Iceland
In an interview on the local radio station Bylgjan last week, following the Paris terrorist attacks Ólafur Ragnar said Icelanders could no longer act as if the rise of radical Islam was a problem which did not concern Iceland, or that Iceland was an island in the world. He pointed to the attempts by a foreign nation which has “fostered radical Islam and the forces which have attacked western civilization” as proof that Icelanders had to begin a new conversation, and not let “childish naiveté” delude people into thinking tolerance and social reforms can deal with the challenges:

“But we must come to terms with, in a realistic way, that we are not an island in the world. And when we learn, as I did while meeting the representatives of a foreign state some while back, that a state which has fostered radical Islam and the forces which have attacked Western Civilization, has decided to interfere in the religious life of Iceland, it is of course a sign that we are not an island in the word. And there are many examples which show us we cannot discuss this issue as if it was a problem of somebody else. This decision by a foreign state to begin to interfere in Icelandic religious life in the same way as it has done around the world, financing schools where radical Islam is cultivated, and young men trained in those views, it is a reminder to us Icelanders we must begin a new discussion. At the same time we must not condemn refugees and run away from a society of multiculturalism and tolerance we should not live in childish naiveté that we can deal with this problem with some actions of tolerance and social reform.”

Meeting with Ambassador of Saudi Arabia leaves president shocked
Ólafur Ragnar has since clarified that he was referring to a meeting with the ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Iceland, Ibrahim S.I. Alibrahim who met with the president on March 5. According to the diary of the President on the president's official web page the Ambassador told Ólafur Ragnar at the meeting that Saudi Arabia would donate one million US dollars toward the building of a mosque in Iceland and that he had visited and inspected the location of the planned mosque.

In an interview on Sunday for the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service Ólafur Ragnar said he had been shocked by the announcement. Asked whether he had protested the planned gift at the meeting in March the president explained he had not because the news had taken him by complete surprise. In fact, he been virtually paralyzed by surprise and shock:

“I didn’t [register objections] at that meeting, because this took me completely by surprise, and I was, at the end of the meeting, I simply didn’t know how to react. So, I was really just so surprised, and so paralyzed, by this announcement, that I just accepted it, and then sat down and thought it over, and decided I should make it public, as I did.”

At the time the president did make the announcement known on his web page. He has not explained why he chose to stay quiet about his concerns for more than eight months.

Three days after that item was published, the design for the planned mosque in Reykjavik was unveiled, as reported by Iceland Magazine, November 27, 2015 (link in original):

The design for the planned Reykjavík mosque ere unveiled yesterday, the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service reports. The designs were made by the architects Gunnlaugur Stefán Baldursson and Pia Backmann. In all 63 proposals were submitted for the mosque.

The building will include an 18.5 metre (60 feet) tall tower and a grass covered roof. The building itself will be two stories and 640 square metres (6,890 square feet). According to the architects the aim of the design is to merge Icelandic and Muslim building traditions.

The Reykjavík city council agreed to give the Icelandic Muslim Association land to build the mosque in September 2013. The decision was criticized by many who feared that a mosque would be a breeding ground for radical Islam, and would irreparably change the face of Reykjavík and Icelandic society. Recently the president of Iceland has revealed that he was deeply shocked when he learned earlier this year that the government of Saudi Arabia had decided to donate 1 million US Dollars to the construction of the mosque.

Several days later, it was reported that the ancient Sumerian religion of Zuism was Iceland's fastest-growing religion, but this may have been just a manifestation of protest against public funding of recognized religious groups. As reported by Iceland Magazine, December 3, 2015 (bold, links in original):

Zuism, an ancient Sumerian religion has added thousands of members in a few days [to] become the fastest growing religious group in Iceland. The group now has significantly more members than the Muslim Association and the pagan Ásatrúarfélag. The growth of the religious group has caught the attention of foreign media, including the BBC. However, questions have been raised whether Zuism should be recognized as a proper religion or an organized protest movement.

A religion or a protest movement?
The primary reason for people registering People have been registering their religious affiliation as Zuism is to protest current law and state funding of religious groups. The website of the group promises to re-fund people the parish fees people are charged as part of their income taxes. This state funding of officially recognized religious groups through parish fees has been criticized in recent years by those who demand a full separation of state and church.

The group's website states in blunt terms that the primary goal is to affect political change:

Zuists fully support freedom of religion, and from religion, for everyone. The organization’s primary objective is that the government repeal any law that grants religious organizations privilege, financial or otherwise, above other organizations. Furthermore Zuists demand that the government’s registry of its citizens’ religion will be abolished.
The organization redistributes the government’s annual financial support equally to all members of the congregation.

The local news site Hringbraut.is reports that among the members of the group is Birgitta Jónsdóttir, one of the founders of the Pirate Party. Other Pirate party members, including Halldór Auðar Svansson, a Reykjavík city councilman for the party, have expressed support for the religion, saying it is an example of “hacking the system.”

Founders under investigation for fraud
The local news site visir.is reports that the number of people who have registered as Zuists has now topped three thousand. According to figures from Þjóðskrá Íslands the congregation has grown rapidly in the last few days. Ísak Andri Ólafsson, the “Head priest” of Zuism in Iceland and the chairman of the new religious organization tells the local news site visir.is that he is both surprised and humbled by the reception the religion has received.

The rapid growth of the Zuist congregation has come despite significant negative media coverage. On Tuesday the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service reported that the religious organization has been registered with the authorities by brothers Ágúst Arnar Ágústsson and Einar Ágústsson. The two are suspected of having defrauded investors through the crowdfunding site Kickstarter where the solicited funding fo rthe manufacturing of multi-use data caples and portable windmills.

Ísak Andri tells visir.is that the two are no longer on the board of the Zuist organization and that the new board is working with lawyers to ensure all accounts of the organization are open and transparent, ensuring members can be confident the parish fees will be returned to them in full.

Parish fees to be returned to members
The primary promise of Zuism is to refund all members the parish fees, paid by the state to all officially recognized religions based on their membership. This fee is not collected as a poll tax, or directly from the taxpayer, but is considered to be collected through the income tax and then distributed to recognized religious organization based on their membership. According to the 2016 budget the state will pay all recognized religious group 898 ISK each month for each registered member, or 10,776 over the year (81 USD/77 EUR). According to the local newspaper Morgunblaðið this means that the Zuist congregation will receive 33,728,880 ISK (254 USD/241 EUR) in government funding in 2016.

Ísak Andri tells visir.is that each member will receive the total amount, after any administrative costs have been deducted.

Evidence of Iceland's actual return to the practice of ancient paganism is provided by the news that the country's first pagan temple in 1,000 years is being constructed. As reported by Christopher Klein of History.com, February 18, 2015:

When the Vikings first settled in Iceland in the 9th century, they brought with them a deep devotion to a pantheon on Norse gods. Wooden carvings of deities such as Odin, Thor, Freyr and Frigg adorned their temples, and Viking warriors charged into battle confident that their faith would reward them with a trip to Valhalla if they were felled on the battlefield.

Paganism thrived in Iceland until around A.D. 1000 when lawmakers agreed to make Christianity the country’s official religion. While the polytheistic religion of the Vikings was driven underground, it was never totally extinguished thanks in large part to 13th-century Icelandic scholar Snorri Sturluson, who recorded the ancient Nordic mythology in the “Prose Edda.” Even among Christians, Nordic beliefs in elves, trolls and nature spirits were handed down from generation to generation.

Around the time of the return of medieval Icelandic saga manuscripts from Denmark in 1971, interest in Old Norse mythology in Iceland began to grow. In 1972, a small group of believers seeking a faith rooted in the nature of Iceland and their Viking ancestors formed the Asatru Association in a Reykjavik café. The following year, the association received recognition from the Icelandic government as an official religious organization, which allowed it to conduct legal marriages, burials and other ceremonies as well as receive a share of the country’s tax money earmarked for official religions.

Although nearly 80 percent of Iceland’s population belongs to the Lutheran Church, the Asatru Association has become one of the country’s fastest-growing religions. According to Statistics Iceland, membership in the neo-pagan religion has grown nearly eightfold in the last 15 years, from just over 300 people in 1999 to nearly 2,400 last year. In a country of approximately 325,000 people, the Asatru Association claims more followers than the Mormon, Buddhist, Islamic and Russian Orthodox faiths combined.

With its ranks growing exponentially along with its share of Iceland’s religious taxes, the Asatru Association has announced plans to begin construction next month on the country’s first temple to the ancient Norse gods in more than 1,000 years. The oval-shaped shrine, designed by Asatru member Magnus Jensson, will be built into a wooded hillside near Reykjavik’s domestic airport. The Iceland Review reports that the capital city donated the land for the temple, which will cost nearly $1 million to build. Following the tenets of the religion, the 4,000-square-foot temple will coexist in harmony with nature. The natural rock of the hillside will form one of the walls while light will pour in through a south-facing glass wall and a skylight atop the dome ceiling.

Inside the 250-seat temple—or “hof”—the group’s four priestesses and five priests will preside over followers’ marriages, funerals, name-giving ceremonies and other rites...

...Asatru high priest Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, a film composer and musician who has collaborated with Icelandic superstar Bjork among others, is quick to point out that the group’s religious practices are different from those of the ancient Vikings. They do not read the medieval texts literally and eschew a strict interpretation of Norse mythology for its more spiritual qualities. Unlike the Vikings, Asatru members do not worship the deities of Asgard such as Odin, the god of gods who sacrificed an eye to gaze into the well of knowledge and rode on an eight-legged steed. “I don’t believe anyone believes in a one-eyed man who is riding about on a horse with eight feet,” Hilmarsson told Reuters. “We see the stories as poetic metaphors and a manifestation of the forces of nature and human psychology.”

As reported by Iceland Monitor, December 2, 2017 (link in original):

The Ásatrú temple in Öskjuhlíð in Reykjavik will be ready in the latter part of next year. There's been a break in construction of the temple but construction will begin again in January.

The building was supposed to be ready by next summer but construction had proved more complicated than previously thought. This was confirmed by head chieftain Hilmar Örn Himarsson of the Ásatrú society of Iceland to Morgunblaðið.

The Ásatrú society recently asked the public for suggestions for a name for the building and a name will be decided next year. Construction is entirely paid for by the society who have been raising funds for years.

The building is located on the Öskjuhlið hill in the middle of the woodland and close to The Pearl. It's designed by architect Magnús Jensson.

Although the temple's construction hasn't been completed, winter solstice ceremonies have already taken place, as reported by Iceland Monitor, December 23, 2017:

Yesterday was the shortest day of the year and in Iceland the sun was only in the sky for four hours and seven minutes. The sun rose in Iceland at 11:22 AM and set again at 15:29.

Members of the Ásatrú religion celebrated Winter Solstice with a blót (sacrificial) ceremony at Öskjuhlíð hill in Reykjavik, which is also the site for the new Ásatrú temple set to rise next summer.

High chieftain Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson says that there are plenty of sources that speak of the celebration of Winter Solstice before Iceland converted to Christianity in the year 1000. One such source is the ancient poem of Harald, Haraldskvæði „Úti vill jól drekka (...)

ok Freys leik heyja.“ ( Outside jól will drink and perform the games of Freyr). Jól is the Icelandic word for Christmas, a word related to the English Yule. "The word jól is taken from the name Jólnir. Jólnir was one of the names for the highest god, Óðinn. This proves the heathen origin of the festival. " Hilmarsson also points out the traditions of ancient Rome, as well as in Peru, China and other places which show that celebrating the rising sun at Winter Solstice is a tradition that goes way further back than the first Icelandic settlers or for that matter, Christianity.

The Pagan ceremony last night was continued by the Ásatrú society with a dinner at Nauthóll restaurant. "We're celebrating the rebirth of the sun. Our ceremony is a small, beautiful one where we recite poetry, including from Skírnismál. There are plenty of children carrying candles, lots of people and even lots of people that are not part of our society but feel that this is a part of their Christmas tradition."

As to the sacrifice, there's no blood spilled at the ceremony. "No, no, this is very child friendly. The only thing we sacrificed were clementines."

And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.
And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.
He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. Genesis 17:9-13

Just a little over a month after the winter solstice observance, a bill to ban non-medical circumcision was introduced into the Icelandic parliament. As reported by Jewish Telegraphic Agency, February 1, 2018 (link in original):

Lawmakers from four political parties in Iceland introduced a bill in parliament that would ban the nonmedical circumcision of boys younger than 18 and impose imprisonment of up to six years on offenders.

Members of the ruling Left Green Movement, the Progressive Party, People’s Party and the Pirate Party submitted the bill to the Albingi on Tuesday, the RUV news site reported. Together, the parties account for 46 percent of the parliament’s 63 seats.

The measure cites the prohibition of female genital mutilation in 2005, arguing a similar prohibition is necessary for males. The report did not say when the bill would come to a vote.

Advocates of male circumcision, which many physicians believe reduces the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases and genital infections, have long objected to the comparison of the practice with female genital mutilation, a custom with no medical benefits that is universally viewed as detrimental to the ability to derive pleasure from intercourse.

The bill calls the circumcision of boys younger than 18 a violation of the human rights, according to the news site, and says it places them at an elevated risk of infection and causes “severe pain.”

Throughout Scandinavia, the nonmedical circumcision of boys under 18 is the subject of a debate on children’s rights and religious freedoms. The children’s ombudsmen of all Nordic countries — Finland, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway — released a joint declaration in 2013 proposing a ban, though none of these countries has enacted one.

In the debate, circumcision is under attack from right-wing politicians who view it as a foreign import whose proliferation is often associated mostly with Muslim immigration. And it is also opposed by left-wing liberals and atheists who denounce it as a primitive form of child abuse.

In 2012, a German court in Cologne ruled that ritual circumcision of minors amounted to a criminal act. The ruling was overturned but triggered temporary bans in Austria and Switzerland.

A similar debate is taking place across Western Europe about the ritual slaughter of animals, which is illegal in several European Union member states.

Iceland, which is not a member of that bloc, has a population of approximately 300,000, including several dozen Jews and a few hundred Muslims.

Scandinavian Jewish leaders have taken notice of this development, and are raising an alarm, as reported by Jewish Telegraphic Agency, February 14, 2018 (links in original):

The leaders of the Jewish communities of four Nordic countries said that a bill proposing to ban nonmedical circumcision in Iceland “will guarantee” that no Jewish community is established there.

The presidents of the umbrella groups of Jewish communities in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland issued the unusual warning Tuesday in an open letter to all Icelandic lawmakers in reaction to the submission last month of a bill proposing to ban all nonmedical circumcision of boys younger than 18 in Iceland, a Scandinavian island nation of some 300,000 people with a few hundred Jews and Muslims.

Lawmakers from four parties with 46 percent of the seats in parliament, including the ruling party, co-authored the bill.

If passed, “Iceland would be the only country to ban one of the most central, if not the most central rite in the Jewish tradition in modern times,” wrote Aron Verständig, Dan Rosenberg-Asmussen, Ervin Kohn and Yaron Nadbornik in the letter.

Referencing the Nazi prohibition on brit milah, Jewish ritual circumcision, they noted: “It would not be the first time in the long tradition of the Jewish people. Throughout history, more than one oppressive regime has tried to suppress our people and eradicate Judaism by prohibiting our religious practices.”

Iceland, they added, does not have an organized Jewish community today.

“Banning Brit Milah will be an effective deterrent and will guarantee that no Jewish community will be established,” they wrote.

Iceland is slated this year to receive its first resident rabbi in decades.

The open letter might be perceived as meddling in Iceland’s internal affairs, the co-authors conceded.

“And why should we care? The reason is that you are about to attack Judaism in a way that concerns Jews all over the world,” they wrote.

The Nordic Jewish community leaders urged the Icelandic lawmakers to follow Norway’s 2015 legislation on nonmedical circumcision, which introduced regulation while ensuring the custom’s legality under certain terms.

In Europe, circumcision is under attack from right-wing politicians who view it as a foreign import whose proliferation is often associated mostly with Muslim immigration. And it is also opposed by left-wing liberals and atheists who denounce it as a primitive form of child abuse.