Humanist marriage now top religious marriage in Scotland.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Interesting idea. I'd be curious to see what those ceremonies look like, as the article is rather elusive.

Why exactly would other countries have to "make it legal" though? Surely not many countries have laws that ban people from celebrating their marriages as they wish.


Also,

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[Antonio the Sixth]

Also for balance read the Christian Post and paste the eye rolling quote.

...what?

You linked to an article. Are you surprised people have opinions on its contents? And then I'm the one who's being defensive?

[Antonio the Sixth]

Also for balance read the Christian Post and paste the eye rolling quote.

...what?

You linked to an article. Are you surprised people have opinions on its contents? And then I'm the one who's being defensive?

Um. I was joshing. I missed putting a at the end. Tony, you need to start stepping back before you post. This is getting ridiculous!

I'm glad you find it funny. I find it just tiring personally, but to each their own.

Anyway, since you have experience with these types of weddings, can you tell us more about them? My post included a very clear invitation to elaborate.

[Antonio the Sixth]

"Humanist" is just a fancy name for people who are, for some reason, afraid to be called Atheists.

As someone who recently got beat down by the entire forum for taking a principled humanist stance... you are wrong.

http://hfofs.co.uk/humanist-wedding-ceremonies/wedding-ceremony-testimonials/

These are people's experiences

Thanks.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I read the links, but from what's in them I have a hard time distinguishing them from more elaborate civil weddings. For example suppose a couple is married in the large garden of a friend's house. They have about 50 guests in attendance. The mayor of the city is asked to officiate and he has them recite vows and gives a speech on love and commitment in front of the couple and their guests. It's not a religious ceremony and it's much more than the usual civil procedure of just swearing an oath and signing forms at the county clerk's office. Would a humanist wedding be substantially different from this example?

That was what I was wondering as well. I think it would definitely be cool if nonbelievers had the opportunity to participate in a ceremony with its own rituals that go beyond the strictly legal aspect.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Last weekend I went to some friends' wedding at a public park in Northampton. The groom is a Jewish atheist who's very serious about both the Jewish part and the atheist part and the bride is a mostly-lapsed Catholic who I believe is now some sort of religious naturalist. The ceremony included elements of Jewish weddings--including some of the religious aspects, reframed as simply cultural--and also personalized secular elements, mostly playful riffs on the couple's geeky interests and socialist politics. I don't know if that would be considered a humanist wedding in the sense that this thread is discussing, but I thought it was a really nice way to make an event of it rather than just doing the legal aspect pro forma.

That does sound really awesome. I'd definitely like to see more secular (I tend to give humanism a very precise philosophical definition, so I'd rather avoid the term here) weddings like this.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I read the links, but from what's in them I have a hard time distinguishing them from more elaborate civil weddings. For example suppose a couple is married in the large garden of a friend's house. They have about 50 guests in attendance. The mayor of the city is asked to officiate and he has them recite vows and gives a speech on love and commitment in front of the couple and their guests. It's not a religious ceremony and it's much more than the usual civil procedure of just swearing an oath and signing forms at the county clerk's office. Would a humanist wedding be substantially different from this example?

That was what I was wondering as well. I think it would definitely be cool if nonbelievers had the opportunity to participate in a ceremony with its own rituals that go beyond the strictly legal aspect.

I've been to a number of secular weddings. They have ceremonies that talk about the concept of marriage and stuff, just not God.

The wedding Nathan described definitely sounds like a wedding that I could imagine my parents at, for example.

What are most weddings like in France?

From my limited experience, the civil part of the wedding is a pure administrative formality, and there's nothing to replace the Church ceremony for nonbelievers. Of course you can still have your own reception and everything, but I don't think it's the same.