David's Daily Diversions

State-mandated Atheism

In this country we have an established religion, which, believe it or not, is a version of Christianity. However, most people who actually get married, and it isn't many of them, have the ceremony performed in a registry office. For those of you outside the UK, this is the same place that births and deaths are registered, kind of like a county clerk. It is like a JP wedding.

Even though Christianity is the legally recognised religion of the State, by Act of Parliament, "No religious service shall be used at any marriage solemnized in the office of a superintendent registrar." This has been intrepreted by the General Register Office as prohibiting the use of any religious words.

This means that all readings from poetry or prose are censored for anything that could be construed as religious content, even if it is unintentional. This was brought to the attention of the Sunday Times when someone wanted the 43rd of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese (you know the one: How do I love thee, Let me count the ways...) read at his wedding and he was told that he had to cut the last to lines because they included the word "God". It was also suspect because it contains the words "soul" and "grace". An undercover Sunday Times reporter approached several registry offices and got the same response.

It is one thing to allow for non-religious ceremonies. I can understand why non-religious couples would want to marry, as marriage has been reduced to a civil act carrying certain tax advantages. However, to bar any reference to a generic Almighty or even words like "soul" and "grace" is just silly. Clearly if the parties to the marriage want to include these words, then they are not offended by the references therein and that is all that should matter. In providing a non-religious venue, what interest is being served in censoring every single word of any religious origin which has seeped into the common vernacular?