UK: Abolish church weddings, says bishop

An Anglican bishop has called for the abolition of church weddings to prevent people “committing perjury” at the altar, the Telegraph newspaper reported on 23 May.

“It would be much more honest of the church to say that we won’t marry anybody, because doing so puts them in a position where they have said in the presence of God ‘We take these vows until death us do part’,” said Bishop of Sodor and Man, Noel Jones.

“I want to prevent couples from committing perjury at the altar, which is really what it is. The person being remarried is effectively saying, ‘I didn’t really mean it last time’ or ‘Well, it didn’t really go quite right’.”

Bishop Jones said church blessings could follow civil ceremonies for those couples who accepted they would be entering a lifelong commitment.

“If people are so religiously-minded that they say, ‘I can’t believe that this marriage is proper unless God is involved in it’ then the church can do that by giving a blessing.”

May 2002