Posted on 08/19/2018 4:53:48 PM PDT by marshmallow
Secular marriages are now the most popular in Scotland, prompting fresh calls for reform in England and Wales
Robyn Hewatt and Andrew Downie were married with all the trappings of a traditional Scottish wedding: Hewatt’s father walked her down the aisle; she had maids of honour and Downie had a best man. A piper played at the door.
But there was no priest, minister or registrar to lead the ceremony. Like thousands of Scots, Hewatt and Downie were legally married by a humanist celebrant. For the first time last year, in what was once a famously religious country, the Humanist Society of Scotland married more people than the Church of Scotland.
Hewatt, 29, a gym instructor, and Downie, 34, a manager with the Screwfix chain, said their wedding on Saturday fitted their identity. “We felt we could make it more personal to us and our story. A humanist ceremony spoke more to us than a more traditional religious type of ceremony,” Downie said.
The catalyst for this dramatic shift came in 2005 when the then registrar general of Scotland changed the law on human rights grounds to allow humanist celebrants to conduct weddings.
Scotland categorises humanist weddings as a non-religious belief ceremony, with the same legal status as church-based and civil marriages. Humanists include atheists and agnostics, and those who say they are spiritual but who dislike organised religion. They embrace same-sex marriage, too, unlike most mainstream churches.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
All cultures are equal!
Just been to a “wedding” where the couple had been living together for 10 years and the groom had spent 10 years raising his wifes 3 children. At the end of the ceremony the minister says....”you may now kiss your bride”...everybody cries and cheers as he kisses her....I’m saying...huh...they’ve been having sex for > 10 years...and that’s an important thing to witness? At least show a video of them signing the official marriage documents...The wedding singer belts out “At Last”....I’m thinking...”Sundown” or...”Who’s making love to your old lady, while you were out making love?”
I hope their marriage lasts till death occurs and they show great love to each other but what a bizarre farce.
Whether by religious priest/pastors/rectors, or a JP, a marriage is only as good as the commitment of each to the other - if they make that commitment under God's eyes and ask Him to bless their union, do you really think He would not because some "Holy Priest" didn't say the words with them? How many actual virgins do you think are married in the churches these days?
So, it's not a majority of Scots' weddings.
There are lies; there are damned lies; and there are statistics.
No, they obviously didn't. Hindsight is not valid. They just got sexually involved, got used to each other and got lucky. But they never took the leap of faith before bringing children into their situation, which they rationalized to their families and their little baztids.
One of the important parts of marriage is that it is a covenant not just with the two parties, but also with their greater community, to be subject to group values and existing laws. That is why marriages require a witness.
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