{"id":11059,"date":"2018-12-04T10:17:07","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T10:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ounews.co\/?p=11059"},"modified":"2018-12-04T10:17:07","modified_gmt":"2018-12-04T10:17:07","slug":"study-calls-for-religious-words-and-rituals-to-be-allowed-in-civil-marriage-ceremonies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/business-law\/law\/study-calls-for-religious-words-and-rituals-to-be-allowed-in-civil-marriage-ceremonies\/","title":{"rendered":"Civil marriage and religious vows \u2013 new study calls for flexibility"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the law currently forbidding the use of religious elements in civil marriage,\u00a0Dr Stephanie Pywell<\/a>, Senior Lecturer at The Open University and Professor Rebecca Probert<\/a>, Professor of Law at The University of Exeter have worked closely with registrars to call for a reform to allow more flexibility.<\/p>\n

Working with registrars<\/h2>\n

Stephanie and Rebecca\u2019s research is the first analysis of the words and rituals that are requested by couples and permitted or vetoed by registrars. The research concludes that most registrars take their role seriously and are keen to accommodate couples\u2019 wishes wherever possible. However, confusion and inconsistencies arise because official guidance requires registrars to exclude anything they understand to be \u201creligious in nature\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Government has recently announced that it will ask the Law Commission to conduct a review of marriage law, and the research findings will contribute to this review.<\/p>\n

Registrars were asked for their instinctive reaction as to whether they would allow a selection of vows and rituals from various religions to be included in a civil marriage ceremony. Although some registrars indicated that, in practice, they would always check whether something was religious, the research found:<\/p>\n