For some reason I thought the UK had better laws or a more open policy than the US did in this regard. But that may just be Canada?
Like most things in Britain, marriage law is a mixture of pragmatic compromises and archaic traditional survivals that somehow seems to work despite itself.
Marriages in Britian must be conducted by a government-approved official, and take place in a designated public building. A 'civil ceremony' is conducted by a registrar in the local registry office.
Because the Church of England is technically a branch of government and has been since Henry VIII's reign, ministers of the C of E automatically count as "government-approved officials", and C of E churches as "designated public buildings".
Other religious denominations can't conduct marriages as of right, but individual priests/ministers/rabbis/imams/etc can apply for a licence to conduct marriages and get their church or temple approved as a designated public building. Even so, there are additional hoops to jump through - if you have a religious wedding at a non-C of E place you still need to go to the registry office before hand to sign the register.
The Civil Partnerships Act created a status that is legally identical in virtually every way to marriage apart from the name, but for gay couples. You become civilly partnered ("civilised"?)(most people just say "married") using the same procedure as a civil marriage.
It was less about faith and more about who had the power - I think
Bit of both. Henry VIII was just a cynical pragmatist. His teenage son Edward VI - or at least the men ruling behind the scenes during his reign - seems to have been more of a fervent Protestant. Mary, in turn, was a dogmatic Catholic. Then came Elizabeth who, once again, went back to the more pragmatic and moderate end of the scale.
Part of the problem was that in 16th century England, Catholicism was regarded much like Communism in 1950s America - it wasn't only considered a false and dangerous ideology, but the people who followed it were traitors and supporters of the nation's enemies (Spain and France, in this case).
no subject
Like most things in Britain, marriage law is a mixture of pragmatic compromises and archaic traditional survivals that somehow seems to work despite itself.
Marriages in Britian must be conducted by a government-approved official, and take place in a designated public building. A 'civil ceremony' is conducted by a registrar in the local registry office.
Because the Church of England is technically a branch of government and has been since Henry VIII's reign, ministers of the C of E automatically count as "government-approved officials", and C of E churches as "designated public buildings".
Other religious denominations can't conduct marriages as of right, but individual priests/ministers/rabbis/imams/etc can apply for a licence to conduct marriages and get their church or temple approved as a designated public building. Even so, there are additional hoops to jump through - if you have a religious wedding at a non-C of E place you still need to go to the registry office before hand to sign the register.
The Civil Partnerships Act created a status that is legally identical in virtually every way to marriage apart from the name, but for gay couples. You become civilly partnered ("civilised"?)(most people just say "married") using the same procedure as a civil marriage.
It was less about faith and more about who had the power - I think
Bit of both. Henry VIII was just a cynical pragmatist. His teenage son Edward VI - or at least the men ruling behind the scenes during his reign - seems to have been more of a fervent Protestant. Mary, in turn, was a dogmatic Catholic. Then came Elizabeth who, once again, went back to the more pragmatic and moderate end of the scale.
Part of the problem was that in 16th century England, Catholicism was regarded much like Communism in 1950s America - it wasn't only considered a false and dangerous ideology, but the people who followed it were traitors and supporters of the nation's enemies (Spain and France, in this case).