Calls grow to legalise humanist ceremonies in Britain

Almost a third of people in Britain have attended a humanist ceremony.

The new finding from YouGov comes as the British Humanist Association says the number of people opting for the ceremonies is on the increase, saying the non-religious are the single largest belief group in Britain.

The latest figures show almost 15 million Britons have attended a humanist ceremony, while close to seven million now say they would like a humanist funeral.

In Scotland, where humanist weddings became legally binding in 2005, more than 4,200 ceremonies were conducted last year - more than any religious denomination.

Now the British Humanist Association (BHA) would like the ceremonies to be made legally binding across the rest of Britain.

Head of Ceremonies at the BHA Isabel Russo, told Sky News: "Thousands of people have expressed the desire to have a legally binding humanist wedding ceremony.

"These people don't understand why they have to have two wedding ceremonies, so they have to sign the piece of paper which represents the legal part of their ceremony and then they have the humanist wedding ceremony.

"For them the humanist wedding ceremony is the real wedding ceremony because that's the ceremony they've put months and months of thought into, thinking about what they want to say to each other, thinking about who they want to witness that uniquely special moment in their lives."

Blake and Althea Hutchings from Leamington Spa chose a humanist ceremony for their wedding in June.

The pair wanted to do something different and decided on a circus theme.

They even learnt the trapeze, taking weekly lessons for nine months to wow their guests on their big day.

"Neither of us are religious so we weren't going to have a church wedding and this is by far the most creative and interesting way of doing it otherwise we were having to stick to a very strict script that a registry office would have," Althea told Sky News.

"Between us we were able to write the entire script for the ceremony and make it much personal," Blake added.

But there are those who argue that there will always be a demand for more traditional ceremonies.

Reverend Dr Sandra Miller, Head of Projects and Development for the Archbishops' Council in the Church of England told Sky News: "It's true that over the last decade or so the numbers of weddings, Christenings and funerals we do have declined but we still take over 6,000 services every week for people at those key moments in life.

"So although there's more choice for people we're still doing a great many services and meeting a great many people."