Wedding law in England and Wales is badly out of date.
We campaign for marriage to be equally open to all, regardless of religion or belief.
Time for one wedding law for all.
In England and Wales, different laws apply depending on whether a wedding is Anglican, Jewish, Quaker, another religion or not religious at all (a civil wedding or partnership).
This is unfair, confusing and absurd.
Most religious weddings must be held in a registered place of worship, while civil weddings and partnerships must take place in approved premises. Jewish and Quaker weddings can take place anywhere.
This system leads to inequality. Members of religions which don't have fixed places of worship, or don't use their places of worship for weddings, are disadvantaged. And members of nonreligious communities such as Humanism have no way of getting legally married according to their philosophical beliefs.
The process for a place of worship to register itself for marriage is much cheaper than for approved premises for civil ceremonies. This in turn contributes to the cost of civil marriages and partnerships.
Over 80% of opposite-sex marriages in England and Wales in 2019 were civil marriages. But only 16% of recognised wedding venues in England and Wales can hold civil marriages. The remaining 84% are religious venues.
While approved premises for civil weddings and partnerships must by law hold ceremonies for same-sex couples, this is not the case for places of worship. In 2022, only 2% of places of worship were registered for same-sex weddings. This considerably reduces the options for same-sex couples. Whereas opposite-sex weddings are in slow decline, same-sex weddings are increasing.
UPDATE: The Law Commission has now made its final recommendations on reforming wedding law on England and Wales. Please write to your MP in support of the recommendations...
Unregistered religion-only 'marriages'
The complexity of marriage law may contribute to the rise in couples who have religious 'wedding' ceremonies that are not legally-binding.
A signification proportion of Muslim couples are in an Islamic 'nikah' union lacking the full legal rights and protections of a recognised marriage.
Unregistered marriages can undermine women's rights in particular. If a woman in a nikah is 'divorced' suddenly, or against her wishes, she can be left homeless and without any money or assets.
The situation is made worse by sharia councils or 'courts' which dispense religious rulings on Islamic marriage, child custody and divorce. These are not courts of law but there are concerns some Muslim women, especially those not born in the UK or unable to speak English, perceive them as having real legal authority.
Sharia councils leave children vulnerable and discriminate openly against women. To seek a religious divorce a woman must gain permission from these almost entirely male councils, and there are reports of women being denied this request even in cases where they have faced abuse.
Reforming wedding laws will not solve these problems completely. But making wedding laws simpler and fairer can encourage couples to gain the legal protections of a registered marriage.
Take action!
1. Write to your MP
Tell your MP to support the Law Commission's recommendations for wedding reform.
2. Share your story
Tell us why you support this campaign, and how you are personally affected by the issue. You can also let us know if you would like assistance with a particular issue.
3. Join the National Secular Society
Become a member of the National Secular Society today! Together, we can separate religion and state for greater freedom and fairness.
Latest updates
Give couples greater freedom over where they marry, says NSS
Posted: Fri, 22 Jan 2021 11:33
The National Secular Society has welcomed proposals to grant couples more freedom over where they choose to marry in England and Wales in response to a consultation.
Last year the Law Commission proposed comprehensive reforms to wedding law in England and Wales.
The NSS has now responded to the commission's consultation on the plans, and said they offer "a balanced, practical and sensible model for more equal and inclusive weddings for people of all religions and none".
The commission's proposals include the introduction of an officiant-based system for the legal recognition of marriage, to replace the current restrictive building-based system, in line with previous NSS recommendations.
In response to the consultation the NSS said this change would "significantly increase freedom and fairness for all couples to marry how they want, and where they want".
The change would mean more couples could legally marry outdoors if they chose to do so, and would be in line with existing law in Scotland.
Currently only Jewish and Quaker weddings are legally recognised if they take place outdoors in England and Wales.
Other proposals and NSS response
The NSS also supported several other proposals which it has previously lobbied for.
These included a plan to introduce universal civil preliminaries – the steps that must be taken before a couple is authorised to have a legally binding wedding. The society said this would make the law clearer and fairer.
The NSS also said several of the commission's other proposals would expand couples' freedom of choice, including:
- A plan to relax prohibitions on religious content – for example in songs, readings and hymns – in civil weddings.
- A more inclusive approach to authorising which religious groups can officiate legally-recognised weddings, and a move to consider including "non-religious belief groups" into the sphere of groups that can nominate officiants.
- A recommendation to consider enabling independent officiants to hold legally-recognised weddings.
NSS comment
NSS head of policy and research Megan Manson said: "The Law Commission's proposals would bring substantial and welcome change to wedding law.
"They would make the law simpler and grant couples greater opportunity to marry in a way that's meaningful to them.
"The commission and the government should proceed with plans to reform the law in this area, and ensure freedom, fairness and individual rights are central considerations in their plans as they do so."
Notes
- The Law Commission is a statutory independent body, tasked with keeping the law in England and Wales under review and recommending reform where it considers it necessary.
- The NSS campaigns for legally-binding weddings to be equally open to all, regardless of religion or sexual orientation.
Photo by Shardayyy Photography on Unsplash.
NSS raises case of girl subjected to forced marriage in Pakistan
Posted: Fri, 18 Dec 2020 12:15
The National Secular Society has backed a campaign to secure the freedom and safety of a 14-year-old girl in fear of her life in Pakistan after fleeing a forced marriage.
Maira Shahbaz and her family are in hiding after defying a Lahore High Court ruling that she should return to Mohamad Nakash Tariq, 30 years her senior, who claims to be her husband.
She has said Mr Nakash has threatened to kill both her and her family.
Her ordeal
The 14-year-old was abducted at gunpoint in April 2020, gang-raped, forcibly converted to Islam and forced to marry her abductor.
She later escaped Nakash's custody and fled into hiding with her parents. She told police that Nakash filmed her being raped and threatened to release the video online if she resisted.
In July a court ordered that she should be placed in a women's shelter. But Lahore's High Court overturned this in August, forcing her to return to Nakash on the grounds that she had embraced Islam and the marriage was valid.
This was despite her family producing a birth certificate showing the girl to be 13 at the time of the alleged ceremony.
Campaign and NSS backing
Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is leading a campaign calling on prime minister Boris Johnson to grant her asylum.
In a letter to the prime minister, the NSS has urged the UK government to do everything in its power to secure the freedom and safety of Ms Shabbaz and her family.
NSS chief executive, Stephen Evans, said: "This is a particularly harrowing example of the all too common phenomenon of forced marriage and forced conversion of women and girls from religious minorities in Pakistan.
"Unless Maira can escape Pakistan, she will be condemned as an apostate by her abductor and his supporters – and will be at risk of being killed.
"We understand Maira Shahbaz and her family are seeking asylum in the UK. We hope the UK government will do everything possible to facilitate that, or to assist in guaranteeing her safety elsewhere."
On 14 December, the UK minister for South Asia, Commonwealth and United Nations, Tariq Ahmad, said the government was "closely monitoring developments" in the case.
Notes
- Those wishing to back calls for the prime minister to grant UK asylum to Maira Shahbaz and her family can sign a petition on the ACN website.
- According to a report by the Movement for Solidarity and Peace in Pakistan, an estimated one thousand girls from Christian and Hindu backgrounds are forced to convert and marry Muslim men in Pakistan every year.
- UNICEF estimates that 21% of girls in Pakistan are married by the age of 18, and three per cent before they turn 15.
With archive image of Maira Shahbaz, © Aid to the Church in Need.
