Court upholds ban on secular wedding officiants

Court upholds ban on secular wedding officiants

Indianapolis — A federal court in Indiana has rejected atheists’ requests to preside at wedding ceremonies, saying only clergy or public officials are licensed to solemnize marriages.

A lawsuit filed by the Indiana chapter of the Center for Inquiry (CFI) argued that an Indiana law that requires marriages to be “solemnized” — made official by signing a marriage license — only by clergy, judges, mayors or local government clerks violates the Constitution.

But Judge Sarah Evans Barker of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana ruled Nov. 30 that marriage has religious roots. 

Therefore, government regulation of marriage is an act of religious accommodation — not endorsement — and protected by the Constitution.

CFI, a 24,000-member secular humanist organization based in New York, had argued that barring “secular celebrants” from solemnizing marriages provides preferential treatment to religious celebrants.

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller described the current law as a “very reasonable requirement.”

“The court found that couples who wish to marry without involving clergy have many alternatives for doing so,” he said. “My office will continue to defend the statute if necessary.”