Potential new legislation, being discussed in Scotland, has been attacked by the Presbyterian church on the grounds that, should it pass, Star Wars fans may start conducting Jedi wedding services.
The Scottish Government is trying to shake up marriage laws, primarily to allow for same-sex marriages, but also to allow for more general ‘belief’ ceremonies. These ceremonies would be for people who are don’t believe in a particular God but do have a distinct belief system. Scotland has a history of humanist wedding ceremonies taking place and the ‘belief ceremonies’ would be introduced, to some extent, to cater for them.
Enter the Jedis, who believe in the power of ‘the force’ and according to the Free Church Of Scotland will conduct Star Wars themed weddings which really would be a step too far. Clearly this is not something that the government wants to be responsible for allowing to happen.
Strangely, it doesn’t take too much of a leap of the imagination to see this happening. In the 2001 census, in an act of pointless subversion, almost 400,000 people in England and Wales registered themselves as “Jedi” followers on their census forms. The Scottish church is now concerned that they will do something similar to the institution of marriage. They fear the prospect of English Star Wars enthusiasts flocking to Gretna Green for ceremonies complete with guards of honour wielding light sabres instead of swords.
Back in 2001, to convince people to declare themselves as Jedis, somebody said: “Do it because you love Star Wars … or just to annoy people”. If these weddings start taking place people are going to be seriously annoyed.
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