Scotland’s Marriage Bill Will Allow Jedi Marriages

Scotland's marriage bill proposal has been shunned by the Free Church of Scotland as it will allow Jedis to get married.

The church says the bill, which would allow belief ceremonies, is "completely nonsensical".

The Scottish Government has put forward plans to create a third category of marriage that would make way for belief ceremonies, which would run alongside civil partnerships and religious weddings.

A spokesman from the Free Church said: "The proposal of the Scottish Government to create a third category of belief marriage ceremony alongside the current religious and civil ones is an indication of the increasing confusion that we can expect in the coming months and years.

"Humanists are already able to perform marriages under the religious category and we see no reason why this should not continue.

"Instead we are faced with the Scottish Government seeking to create a new category for something which already happens under the current system, which is completely nonsensical.

"We would also question whether this category only includes humanists or will it allow for any belief? Could the Jedi Knights or members of the Flat Earth Society be registered as belief celebrants?"

The 2011 census showed that Jedi is still the most practiced 'other' religion in the UK, with 176,632 adhering to the 'religion' started by George Lucas' Star Wars films.

Should Scotland's marriage bill go ahead, other ceremonies that could be seen include gnostic and Scientologist. The census showed 6,242 said heavy metal was their religion, which would probably make for a noisy ceremony.

The Jedi church says all living things share a living force and that people have an innate knowledge of right from wrong.

It says there are two sides to the force - the dark side and the light side: "Beware of the dark side ... The dark side leads to fear. Fear leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering," the Jedi say.

The Free Church spokesman continued: "We believe that once the legislation is passed the issues and complications will not go away."