Government Blocks Proposals for Humanist Marriages
The Government has published a report declining to allow Humanist marriages despite a public consultation which showed over 90% of respondents to be in favour. It is reported that this is the result of their election strategist Lynton Crosby decreeing that nothing "promoting initiatives that are not central to the party’s key election themes of crime, the economy, immigration and welfare" should be taken forward before the General Election. The reasons given for not agreeing to Humanist Marriages were in summary: Location (listed as the key difficulty) Humanists want the freedom to hold ceremonies anywhere, a right enjoyed by the Quakers and Jews since 1753. However the Church of England and others entitled to undertake registered marriages are restricted in that they have to use their own buildings and they wish to apply the same restriction to Humanists. The simple answer is to remove the restriction on all the marriage providers and allow them to choose as to whet...