Multiculturalism in Defense of Wife-Beating?

Here is something we at SDP and the good folks at DakotaWomen are likely to agree on.  From FOXNews:

A female judge in Germany cited the Koran in her refusal to allow a Muslim woman permission to file for an immediate divorce over abuse by her husband, saying that the Koran allows a man to beat his wife. The woman in question said her husband not only beat her but also threatened to kill her.

 

Germans are outraged by the judge's decision. Top newspaper's headlines read: "Where are we living? Woman judge allows beating in marriage and invokes the Koran." And a government official said: "When the Koran takes precedence over the German Basic Law, then I can only say: Goodnight Germany."

 

A bias complaint against the judge was upheld, and another judge will now hear the case. That judge's interpretation may soon be outdated.

I suspect that the judge was trying to be "culturally sensitive."  The obvious trouble with that, as is apparently apparent to most Germans, is that the cultural element that the judge was trying to be sensitive to is abhorrent. 

This isn't the first time I have seen this argument.  A former colleague of mine once tried to defend such a "custom" that he claimed was part of African marriage.  When a man slaps his wife, I was told, this is a sign of love.  I didn't buy it then, and I don't buy it now.