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Posted on 08/12/2013 4:15:20 PM PDT by Olog-hai
Traditionally Catholic Ireland has allowed an atheist group to perform weddings this year for the first time, and the few people certified to celebrate them are overwhelmed by hundreds of couples seeking their services.
Demand for the Humanist Association of Ireland’s secular weddings has surged as the moral authority of the once almighty Catholic Church collapsed in recent decades amid sex abuse scandals and Irish society's rapid secularization.
Until now, those who did not want a religious wedding could have only civil ceremonies. Outside of the registrar’s office, only clergy were permitted to perform weddings. But statistics show rising demand for non-Church weddings. In 1996, 90 percent of Irish weddings were performed by the Catholic Church or the Church of Ireland. But by 2010 that percentage had fallen to 69 percent. …
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Atheists have religious ceremonies?
Doesn't that make them... religious?
Ban atheist marriages. That way, their numbers will fall.
Dear Gawd
LOL, yeah I always have the same reaction when I read about atheist "chaplains". I believe the word I'm looking for is oxymoron.
Why do atheists need to get married? It’s a Catholic Sacrament, is it not?
Just shack up and leave each other when you get tired of each other. That’s the atheist way.
The youngest generation of atheists like the community created by religious people, celebrating weddings, births, deaths and regular get-togethers.
So you see atheist “churches” to sing songs, socialize, celebrate life milestones and - in the case of one I visited - shop the back wall for all the atheist books and CDs for sale.
Why do these people want a ceremony? For what reason or purpose does it serve?
They have a vacuum in their life they are trying desperately to fill.
Hundreds, I tell you, hundreds!
I guess they think they'd look kinda silly wearing the tux and big fancy dress to City Hall, not to mention being followed there by guys in tuxes and girls in matching dresses.;o)
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