…did you know that at present Humanist weddings are not recognised by the English government?

At present Tris & I have no choice but to arrange our wedding as either two separate components: one a meaningful, personalised ceremony officiated by a Humanist celebrant & the other a banal, bureaucratic civil service in front of a Government recognised Registrar. If we are lucky we may be able to find a Registrar willing to work with the Humanist celebrant to create the wedding we are dreaming of. If we can’t then it’ll be a case of having to go to the Registry Office which will be frustrating as we would like to have our legal wedding date the same as our Humanist one but this will complicate matters in the timing of the day.

The fact that the English Government does not see a wedding conducted by a Humanist celebrant as a legal marriage disappoints me. Christians, Jews, Unitarians & Quakers have their religious marriage ceremonies recognised by the English Government so why force Tris & I as well as all the other Humanists in the country through the hoopla of having to organise a second officiant for the celebration of our commitment to each other? Discrimination of any kind is terrible & there is an opportunity here for you to help the situation change.

Next week as part of the debate over same sex marriages there is an amendment that would include Humanist weddings as legally recognisable by English Government. It is a free vote so each MP can make their own choice as to how they cast their vote rather than being instructed by the party leader on how to choose how to vote. Click here to go through an email template that will send a message to your local MP asking them to support the change.

If you still aren’t sure here is some more information that you may find useful:

• Humanist Weddings are recognised as legal marriages in Scotland.

• Last year there were almost 3000 Humanist weddings in Scotland which is more than the number of Roman Catholic weddings there during the same timeframe.

• If the trend continues then Humanist ceremonies will overtake Church of Scotland weddings as well in coming years.

• Norway, Australia & parts of the USA recognise Humanist weddings as legal marriages.

• Many noted historical figures were Humanist including: Isaac Asimov, Johannes Brahms, Albert Einstein, Nikola Tesla & Mark Twain.

• Stephen Fry, Tim Minchin, Ricky Gervais, Seth Macfarlane, Joss Whedon, Jane Asher, Ken Livingstone & Sir Terry Pratchett are all present day Humanists.

For more information on Humanism click here.