Conference in the Seimas on humanism as a worldview, humanist ceremonies and their path to legal recognition in Lithuania, using examples from other European countries.
Since 2016, we have married more than 2,200 couples. Humanist ceremonies already have legal status in Norway, Sweden, Scotland, Ireland, and Iceland. We strive for what has already become meaningful to many people in Lithuania to be legally recognized as well.
PROGRAMME
13:00 – 13:10 Welcome address
Arūnas Valinskas, Member of the Seimas, humanist
Urtė Žukauskaitė-Zabukė, founder and head of HIA, a humanitarian organisation in Lithuania.
13:10 – 14:00 Foreign Country Experiences: How humanist ceremonies became an important part of society
Norway (live)
Humanist Ceremonies – A Mirror to Public Trust. The Experience of the World's Largest Humanist Organisation
Tale Pleym, Senior Advisor for Ceremonies, Human-Etisk Forbund (Norwegian Humanist Association)
Iceland (swimming)
Humanist ceremonies in Iceland and how they have boosted wedding tourism
Guðrún Þóra Arnardóttir, executive director, Siðmennt – Humanists Iceland
Belgium (live)
Humanistic Ceremonies and Chaplaincy – Integration of Meaning in Defence
Hans De Ceuster, Humanist Chaplain General (OF-7), Belgian Defence Forces
14:00 – 14:20
Lithuanian experience
Humanist ceremonies – a meaningful choice for society, but legally unrecognised
Urtė Žukauskaitė-Zabukė, Head of Humanistinės organizacijos Lietuvoje (HIA)
14:30 – 15:30 Discussion – Job search in Lithuania
We are sharing answers to frequently asked questions about notarisation.
1. The legalisation of same-sex marriage would contradict the Constitution. According to Article 38 of the Constitution, the State registers marriages, births, and deaths. The State also recognises church marriage registration.
Humanist marriage does not mean separate registration. HIA is not seeking to acquire civil registration functions, which, according to Article 38 of the Constitution, remain a state prerogative.
As is currently the case, the legal force of marriage would be granted by the state registry, and a HIA-certified officiant would merely provide documents confirming the fact of marriage.
Religious communities operate analogously: they do not „register“ a marriage, but rather perform ceremony, after the wedding registered in the state.
Humanist organisations are asking solely for authorisation to act as intermediaries – HIA-certified officiants, who pass on marriage data to the state institution.
This is not the creation of a new type of marriage or an amendment to the Constitution, but merely an expansion of administrative practice.
By allowing religious communities to have this authority but not humanists, the state violates the principle of equality (Article 29 of the Constitution).
Therefore, the HIA's request does not create a privilege, but rather seeks to create equal opportunities for believers and non-believers.
2. Is it difficult to have a civil marriage registered at the registry office?
Civil marriages can currently be registered at the registry office, with a humanist ceremony held at a time of your choosing. Why change anything if it's already working?
Not all people can marry according to their beliefs and values. Currently, there are two options: church and civil marriage registration. What if neither of them reflects your worldview? Marriage is not just a legal formality described by the letter of the law. It is an intimate, sensitive, personal, meaningful celebration. It is precisely all these aspects that a humanist marriage ceremony possesses, but it is missing one…
The legalisation of humanist ceremonies would not require anything from others – it would simply grant equal rights.
Why do two ceremonies instead of one?
3. Do humanists have out-of-town wedding ceremonies if there are metrics?
Are there humanist, if there are out-of-town registry office weddings? A humanist ceremony is not just a beautiful ceremony in a beautiful location – it's a text, vows, and ritual created together with the couple, involving them in a process of reflecting on their choice. It's a journey taken before the ceremony, during which what is most important to the couple is clarified and put into words. Each ceremony is personal, unique, and personalised, where everything is thought through together with the couple – from the moment of arrival, to the vows, the kiss, and the inclusion of other important people.
Another, very important, aspect. Let's look at a humanist and an away-from-home marriage as a service provided to a couple. Away-from-home marriages have time limitations. There are clearly defined hours by which the ceremony can be registered at the latest. Away-from-home marriages cannot be performed on Sundays. In some municipalities, there are clearly regulated locations, and in others, marriage is not registered. If at least one of the marrying partners does not speak Lithuanian and a bilingual ceremony is required, the away-from-home marriage ceremony does not provide this service without additional interpreters. A humanist ceremony can be conducted in foreign languages. The ceremony can be conducted on all days of the week and does not have specific working hours.
Thirdly, marriage ceremonies are not needed when a marriage is registered during a religious ritual. We believe that such an alternative should also apply to a secular ceremony alternative.
4. Aren't there more serious problems?
There are always more serious problems, but one can work on many of them at once, and it's not a competition for the importance of problems. Even without legal significance, people choose to have humanist ceremonies, making the planning of celebrations more complicated by including specific timeframes, or an additional trip to the civil registry office. This shows that humanist ceremonies are needed, and their recognition would make life easier for all parties involved.
5. If you go alone, can anyone go?
We aim to systematically address this issue by anticipating all necessary measures to ensure safety, reliability, and quality. We are confident that with nearly 10 years of experience in organising humanist ceremonies and always striving for maximum transparency, we could ensure the document verification and completion step. We aim not to become a religious community marrying according to their desires and beliefs, but to become an intermediary that facilitates processes and ensures data security. Our affiliation with the international Humanists International network and the European Humanist Service Network organisation shows that we meet the highest international criteria for humanist ceremonies conducted (and legally recognised) in other countries, and we have a network of ceremony masters whose members are trained to conduct ceremonies according to the European humanist ceremony standard.
6. Divorces are on the rise in the country, and marriages are decreasing. What is the purpose of legalising humanist marriages?
Although a significant decrease in civil and religious marriages in Lithuania has been observed since 2017, the number of humanist marriages is growing year on year. This means that humanist ceremonies could be the answer that strengthens the institution of marriage. Humanist ceremonies are suitable for a very wide range of people – when members of the couple have different beliefs, when both or one of the couple are non-believers, when people of different nationalities are marrying and require a ceremony in several languages, when it is not the first marriage, when it is necessary to sensitively unite previously formed families. People's lives are too varied for ceremonies to be uniform, and it is precisely this societal need that humanist ceremonies address. We believe that certified HIA celebrants having the opportunity to submit documents would increase the accessibility of ceremonies and encourage cohabiting couples, who have not found a unifying way to marry, to do so.
7. Humanist ceremonies lack a moral basis and will weaken the institution of marriage.
Humanist ceremonies are based on humanist values as set out in Amsterdam Declaration and is guided by European standard for humanistic ceremonies.
Our experience shows that people who choose humanist ceremonies are not only motivated by moral or ideological considerations. These individuals, driven by other arguments, often share after the ceremonies how the cultural contexts used, which are personally linked to the specific couple, encourage them to ask more in-depth questions about the meaning, causes, and consequences of their choices. This suggests that humanist wedding ceremonies not only create short-term value during their occurrence but also possess a deeper, lasting value and a stronger emotional impact than a typical non-religious wedding ceremony.
8. What's in it for the state?
Simplifying the documentation requirements for couples, particularly in the case of humanist ceremonies, would enable the state to register marriages in a more flexible and modern way. This would contribute to the provision of flexible, high-quality services by reducing the workload of civil registry staff, and would make our country a more attractive destination for international ceremonies. 30% already has such HIAs in place.
9. It is already presumed that a humanist marriage is a real (legal) marriage.
Such a presumption is not made, as couples are informed that only the state registers marriages. Therefore, before the marriage, they must decide whether to combine a humanist ceremony with a civil registry office ceremony away from the Registry Office, or to go to the civil registry office separately before or after the humanist ceremony.
One of the main objectives is to reduce inconvenience for people, as an off-site ceremony is limited by working hours, the newlyweds and the officiant cannot be sure of its content, and a separate visit is an additional burden.
10. Legalising humanist marriages will open up possibilities for LGBT marriages. This is a sneaky attempt to push something through.
Since 2016, when we started conducting humanist ceremonies and communicating that our ceremonies are for all couples, regardless of their sexual orientation, out of the 2200 ceremonies we have performed, fewer than 10 have been for LGBT couples. As the state legalises them, not us – without state decisions, nothing will change, unfortunately, and LGBT marriages will remain symbolic.
