• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

What God has not joined together: Humanist weddings in Scotland now outnumber Christian ones

danieldemol

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
‘Marriages celebrated through a non-religious belief ceremony are now outnumbering Christian ones in Scotland as the nation increasingly turns its back on churches.

Official stats reveal that for the first time there were more humanist marriages in Scotland last year than there were Christian marriages of all denominations combined.

Humanist marriages made up 23% of all marriages, while Christian marriages made up 22%, according to the National Records of Scotland data.’

Read more here:
What God has not joined together: Humanist weddings in Scotland now outnumber Christian ones
 

Sirona

Hindu Wannabe
Is Humanism a specific "denomination" in Scotland or is it just humanist/atheist as opposed to Christinanity / religion in general?
 

Stevicus

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
Humanist marriages made up 23% of all marriages, while Christian marriages made up 22%, according to the National Records of Scotland data.’

Just out of curiosity, it indicates that humanist and Christian marriages comprise 45% of marriages in Scotland. What about the other 55% of marriages?
 

danieldemol

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Just out of curiosity, it indicates that humanist and Christian marriages comprise 45% of marriages in Scotland. What about the other 55% of marriages?
From the article;

‘According to NRS figures there are now 5,879 humanist marriages, compared with 5,812 Christian marriages and 1,409 marriages of other religions.

There were also 12,635 civil ceremonies conducted by registrars in 2019’

So I guess for some reason they are not counting civil ceremonies as being either humanist or religious ceremonies.
 

Sirona

Hindu Wannabe
I think it’s just as opposed to religion in general.

Well, then, in East Germany about 90% of the inhabitants are atheists in the aftermath of Communist oppression, so there are probably many more non-religious marriages and burials than in Scotland.

There's even a secular coming of age ceremony which used to be an oath on the State under Communism. Now it seems a ritual mostly devoid of meaning, but many East German parents expect their children to celebrate it as a "tradition".
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
I think we should be careful in interpreting this.

In Scotland you can, apparently, have a Humanist wedding, conducted by a licensed Humanist celebrant, recognised as a valid marriage contract, just as you can marriages performed by recognised and licensed ministers of religion.

But for those who don't want any of that, there have always been civil marriages, performed at the Town Hall.

What this seems to show is the Humanist Society has made some strides in appealing to non-believers who want to tie the knot, as opposed to making do with a purely civil ceremony.

If you want to explore the extent to which these stats show the decline of religion, you need to look firstly at all religions, not just Christianity, and secondly at all marriages, including all the civil ones, of which there are a great number.

In France, by comparison, nobody but the civic officials can conduct a legally valid marriage ceremony. So in France the bride and groom often have two ceremonies: a civil one at the town hall, and a Church wedding, in order to have a marriage that is recognised both by the state and the church. In England it is different as the Church of England is the "established" church of the country. It used to be that only Church of England minsters were licensed to conduct a legally valid marriage. Later, priests and ministers of various other denominations were allowed licences. Evidently in Scotland they have now taken one further step, to add officials of the Humanist Society.
 

crossfire

LHP Mercuræn Feminist Heretic ☿
Premium Member
I can see non-religious people who want to have a big party for their wedding go this route--you can't really have a big party at town hall.
 

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
I was reading recently that in London (OK, so it's not in Scotland! :mad:), even though only 17% of those who live there are Catholic, they comprise the majority of those that go to church on a given weekend.
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
Now it seems a ritual mostly devoid of meaning, but many East German parents expect their children to celebrate it as a "tradition".

That's true of religion as well where lip service is given but the message not lived.
 

oldbadger

Skanky Old Mongrel!
‘Marriages celebrated through a non-religious belief ceremony are now outnumbering Christian ones in Scotland as the nation increasingly turns its back on churches.

Official stats reveal that for the first time there were more humanist marriages in Scotland last year than there were Christian marriages of all denominations combined.

Humanist marriages made up 23% of all marriages, while Christian marriages made up 22%, according to the National Records of Scotland data.’

Read more here:
What God has not joined together: Humanist weddings in Scotland now outnumber Christian ones
When I married my Baha'i fiancee we had to have a civil wedding. Then we kissed and promised to meet again in the afternoon when we met up for the wedding that she wanted. But it was a civil wedding that counted. :)
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
I was reading recently that in London (OK, so it's not in Scotland! :mad:), even though only 17% of those who live there are Catholic, they comprise the majority of those that go to church on a given weekend.
That sounds right, though it's not surprising, since Catholics are the only mainstream denomination that has a strong instruction to attend weekly.
 

danieldemol

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
If you want to explore the extent to which these stats show the decline of religion, you need to look firstly at all religions, not just Christianity...
I think they did that, see the following quote below;

'Two years later the Scottish Attitudes Survey found that more Scots than ever (58%) have described themselves as having no religion at all. When the survey was carried out in 1999, the figure was 40%.'
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
I think they did that, see the following quote below;

'Two years later the Scottish Attitudes Survey found that more Scots than ever (58%) have described themselves as having no religion at all. When the survey was carried out in 1999, the figure was 40%.'
Fair enough, but it was the stats in the OP I was referring to.
 

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
That sounds right, though it's not surprising, since Catholics are the only mainstream denomination that has a strong instruction to attend weekly.
Yes, but there's more to that story as well. Are you familiar with Malcolm Muggeridge's conversion and why he chose Catholicism?

One criticism with the Anglican Church is that their theology is all over the place which, truth be told, mine is as well as you're probably aware of. Same has also been charged against mainline Protestant denominations as well, btw.
 
Top