MAWWAIGE!
From the Christian Post:
Amid declining marriage rates, the Centre for Social Justice, a London-based conservative think tank, has urged the Church of England to remove wedding fees for low-income couples to help make the United Kingdom a ‘pro-family, pro-marriage nation.'
This wouldn't exactly be covering the whole cost of the wedding for the couple. It would simply be the church eating their own costs.
This would give a free venue for Christian couples just starting out.
The CSJ's proposal, as part of a December 59-page report, includes covering administrative, legal and booking costs of nearly $900 (£650) for parishioners marrying in their local church. The report, titled ‘Lost Boys: Boyhood,' says such a step would especially benefit families in disadvantaged communities, where marriage rates are significantly lower.
Churches aren't really profiting off the $900 fee in most cases. The costs of opening the facility, running sound, doing maintenance and janitorial work adds up.
Here's more from the researchers:
‘We are not suggesting simply taking benefits from older citizens and giving them to younger citizens. The problems we see in childhood are only partially about money,' researchers wrote in the report. ‘The far greater change of recent years is in family stability. Money can and does support that, but it is only a part of the puzzle. Far bigger is the collapse of marriage rates. Family-structure evidence consistently shows that marriage is much more stable than cohabitation.'
Researchers also noted that church weddings were the lowest they had been in recorded history (with the exception of 2020) in 2023.
This plan is about more than the $900 fee per wedding, however. If this proposal was accepted, it would cost the Church of England millions each year.
The group estimates the initiative would cost the Treasury no more than $43 million (£32 million), noting that the actual expenditure would likely be lower since low-income couples currently marry at lower rates. It also said removing financial barriers could help restore marriage as a stabilizing force for children and families.
The question is: Does anyone want to get married by the woke (and dying) Church of England?
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