Amazing Grace has been banned from civil wedding
ceremonies in Scotland because of its religious content.
The
famous tune, which reached number one in the pop charts in the 1970s, has been
deemed unacceptable by the General Register Office for Scotland.
Recent
changes in the law have allowed couples in Scotland to get married by a
registrar virtually anywhere they want. However, the new-found freedom doesn’t
extend to music, poems, recitals or places with religious connections.
‘Amazing
Grace’, most famously performed by the Pipes and Drums of The Royal Scots
Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys), contains the lines: "The Lord has
promised good to me, His word my hope secures" and "But God, who
called me here below, shall be forever mine."
The ban
even prohibits the playing of the theme tune from the hit show Lord of the
Dance, because the original is a modern hymn.
Registrars
admit the new flexible wedding rules introduced last summer can lead some
couples to believe they have unlimited choice of music when planning a civil
ceremony at their own venue.
The ban
on the tunes emerged last week in official guidelines sent to Meg Duckworth of
Fintry, Stirlingshire, who is planning a marquee wedding at home for her
25-year-old daughter Claire, 25, and Thomas Rytkonen, 27.
Duckworth
said she was surprised to discover ‘Amazing Grace’ among the list of prohibited
tunes.
She
said: "I found it very amusing. The guidelines also say you cannot serve
drink an hour before where the ceremony is to take place."
The
guidelines from Strathkendrick District registrar Lynn Phillips also highlight
‘Lord of the Dance’ as an example of forbidden music.
Yesterday
Phillips said she had nothing against the tunes and was just trying to be
helpful.
She
explained: "We do get asked for them quite a lot. But because a civil
wedding cannot have religious content of any sort I felt it worth giving
examples. Not everyone realises the tunes have religious content and the law
says there cannot be any."
However,
she added that couples still had a wide choice of music and readings that were
not of a religious nature. She said: "We have had quite a lot of couples
who want the music from Braveheart, that was very popular at one point, and a
reading from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin."
Tony
Gallagher, registrar at Alexandria, Dunbartonshire, and secretary to the
Association of Registrars of Scotland, said the new regulations had opened up a
grey area.
"The
fact that a ceremony is not in a registrar’s office can lead some people to
think it is somehow different," he said.
"But
the law is the same for a civil wedding in a hotel or home as it is in the
registrar’s office.
"People
bring along all sorts of music. We’ve even had ‘On the Crest of a Wave’ from
the film Titanic, although some people might wonder whether a film about a
sinking ship is an appropriate way to launch a marriage. But we try to be
flexible within the law."
A
spokesman for the Registrar General said there was no official list of banned
tunes, poems or music at civil weddings.
However,
he added: "The act is clear that a civil ceremony, wherever it is held,
must not include religious content or material which might be considered
religious."