Rise in number of Irish humanist ceremonies

The number of humanist ceremonies taking place in Ireland is on the rise, with more than 100,000 people attending such events last year.

But what exactly is humanism, and why is it becoming so popular?

At the most basic level, humanists are people who base their interpretation of existence on the evidence of the natural world, and not on belief in supernatural elements such as a theistic god, miracles, or an afterlife.

Essentially, humanists believe the happiness of the human race depends on people, rather than religion.

According to the 2011 census results, more than 300,000 people responded ‘No Religion’ or ‘Not Stated’ when asked about their faith. This represents an increase of more than 400% in the last 20 years.

While the number of non-religious people in Ireland is clearly growing, the number of people identifying with humanist values is also rising rapidly.

This is linked to the growing popularity of humanist weddings — as more people attend such ceremonies, more begin to realise what humanism is about, dispelling any misconceptions they may have had.

“Sometimes you’ll have couples coming in and they’ll say: ‘Oh, my mom’s going to have a fit; she’ll think we’re jumping over broomsticks.’ But after the wedding the mom says: ‘Oh that was so meaningful, it was lovely,’ ” said Norma McElligott, one of the humanist celebrants for the Cork and Kerry area.

“A lot of weddings get repeat requests for more weddings from it. People kind of think: ‘Wow, this isn’t hocus pocus.’

“Because sometimes people think that if it’s not religious it’s off the wall, it’s crazy, or it’s running naked out in the woods or something.”

Humanist weddings were relatively uncommon up until the amendment to the Civil Registration Bill in 2013, which made humanist ceremonies legally binding.

Prior to this, anyone having a humanist wedding had to have a separate civil ceremony.

The effect this change has had on humanism is evident. In 2012, there were only 199 humanist weddings. In 2013, this number doubled to more than 400. Last year, there were more than 700.

Brian Whiteside, director of ceremonies for The Humanist Association of Ireland said humanist weddings are so popular now that the celebrants can not keep up with the demand.

“We’ve sadly had to say no to a huge number of couples because we simply haven’t got enough celebrants to conduct all the ceremonies,” said Mr Whiteside.

“I would think if we had a limitless supply of celebrants we would do well over 1,000 weddings this year.

“Up until relatively recently, it was almost assumed that people would get married in a church, that a funeral would be in a church. All of those milestones of life were celebrated in a religious context and there didn’t seem to be an option, but now there is.”

While weddings accounted for the vast majority of the more than 1,000 humanist ceremonies held last year, celebrants say alternatives to baptisms and funerals are also increasing in popularity.

“End of life ceremonies and naming ceremonies are increasingly becoming popular,” said Ms McElligott. “I presume the couples who are getting married now in humanist ceremonies, some of them would have kids and would be in contact down the line to do a naming ceremony.

“It’s not anti-religion at all. It’s about tolerance, it’s about inclusion, and we welcome anyone.”

Another factor in humanism’s rising popularity may be the outspoken nature of well-known personalitites who talk publicly about humanist values.

Most recently, noted humanist Stephen Fry caused controversy when a video of him being interviewed about religion by Gay Byrne went viral.

Other famous humanists include Stephen Hawking, Ricky Gervais, and Salman Rushdie.