Federal Court Knocks Out 1850s Indiana Law Forcing Non-Religious Couples to be Married by Clergy
Federal Court Knocks Out 1850s Indiana Law Forcing Non-Religious Couples to be Married by Clergy or Government Officials
Humanists have scored a big victory in Indiana after contesting the state’s 19th century law mandating marriages be performed only by clergy or public officials.
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals sided with a legal challenge from the secular Center for Inquiry (CFI), which argued Indiana’s 1850s-era law was unconstitutional. The humanists claimed the First Amendment guarantees their right to have celebrants who do not believe in a deity to orchestrate wedding ceremonies.
“The court has gotten this exactly right,” Reba Boyd Wooden, a humanist and certified secular celebrant who was a plaintiff in the case, said in a prepared statement. “Whether a person is atheist, agnostic, humanist, or simply doesn’t want a religious wedding, this decision means they can now have these wonderful occasions solemnized by a celebrant who shares their life-stance.”
Judge Frank Easterbrook noted in his opinion (pdf) that the law also discriminated against members of non-Western groups like Buddhists who don’t worship a deity.
http://www.allgov.com/news/controversies/federal-court-knocks-out-1850s-indiana-law-forcing-non-religious-couples-to-be-married-by-clergy-or-government-officials-140716?news=853696
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