Angela Merkel’s spokesman said it was a case of protecting religious freedom.
Steffen Seibert said: “Circumcision carried out in a responsible manner must be possible without punishment.”
European Jewish and Muslim groups had criticized the Cologne court ruling.
The case involved a doctor who carried out a circumcision on a four-year-old that led to medical complications.
The court said that a child’s right to physical integrity trumped religious and parental rights.
But Steffen Seibert said: “For everyone in the government it is absolutely clear that we want to have Jewish and Muslim religious life in Germany.”
He said the government would look urgently at establishing “legal certainty”.
“It is clear this cannot be put on the back burner. Freedom to practice religion is a cherished legal principle,” Steffen Seibert said.
Germany’s Medical Association had told doctors not to perform circumcisions following the court ruling.
The doctor involved in the case was acquitted and the ruling was not binding. However, critics feared it could set a precedent for other German courts.
European Jewish and Muslim groups had joined forces to defend circumcision.
An unusual joint statement was signed by leaders of groups including the Rabbinical Centre of Europe, the European Jewish Parliament, the European Jewish Association, Germany’s Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs and the Islamic Centre Brussels.
“We consider this to be an affront [to] our basic religious and human rights,” it said.
Opinion in Germany about the issue has been mixed, though one poll showed a majority in favor of the ban.
He says that many readers’ comments on newspaper websites have indicated anger that this generation of Germans seems to be being constricted in its actions because of the Holocaust.
Thousands of Muslim and Jewish boys are circumcised in Germany every year.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons President-elect Donald Trump celebrated his election victory at the Ultimate Fighting…
Millions of voters across the US chose to return Donald Trump to the White House…
Donald Trump declares victory in the US election as he addresses jubilant supporters in Florida.…
Stocks around the world are rising as Donald Trump appears to be on the cusp…
Donald Trump has won Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia and taken a lead over Kamala…
Quincy Jones, the celebrated musician and producer who worked with Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Ray…