Amanda Holowaty of Leland, N.C., holds a photo of she and her husband Mike Holowaty on their wedding day in May 2012. They chose a humanist celebrant to match their atheist values. Photo by Amanda Greene/WilmingtonFAVS.com

---

This image available for Web publication. For questions, contact Sally Morrow.

When the Wilmington atheist couple decided to join their lives a year ago, they knew they wanted a secular wedding celebrant, but their families weren’t so sure.

Her family is Methodist and his is “generally spiritual.” And they worried about even telling Mike’s grandmother, who is Eastern Orthodox.

So they found a wedding celebrant ordained through the Humanist Society, Han Hills, who allowed their family members to read a spiritual poem.

“Nobody seemed to notice that we didn’t mention God,” Holowaty said. “People came up afterward and said it was one of the best weddings they’d seen.”

With the rise of the “nones” – the 20 percent of Americans without a religious affiliation – more couples are looking for wedding celebrants who don’t mind skipping God’s blessing of the ceremony altogether.

More national atheist and humanist agencies such as the Humanist Society and the Center for Inquiry are developing ordaining programs to establish nontheist ministers in most states to perform weddings and funerals. CFI began its certification program in 2009.

There are currently 138 celebrants listed as ordained through the Humanist Society, and some perform weddings in multiple states. The Center for Inquiry has 23 celebrants.

Because of the demand she’s seeing for marriage and funeral celebrants, Florida humanist writer and blogger Jennifer Hancock is considering writing a book about the secular approach to marriage.

What’s missing, she says, is advertising for leaders in the humanist community who can fulfill ceremonies for life cycle events. Only a handful of the ordained celebrants listed on the society’s website also advertise their services on a personal page.

Former Army medic Richard Cotter advertises his services in and around New York at humanistcelebrations.com. California Humanist minister William Rausch advertises his memorial, baby naming and wedding services at ebcelebrant.com.

“As soon as you do the advertising, people are like yeah, I want that. When I got married, I was worried. I didn’t want any religious references in my wedding because I didn’t want to start out the most important relationship of my life with a lie,” Hancock said.

“Some of my most popular posts are about grief, marriage relationships and parenting. That’s all stuff that a traditional minister would help you with.”

The creative elements of a humanist wedding don’t differ much from a religious one. There are sand-mixing ceremonies, candle-lighting ceremonies and walking down an aisle in a white dress. Vows are typically written by the couples themselves, said Hills, whose company is called Leap of Humanity.

Hills already has eight weddings booked this year across North Carolina and is starting to book weddings for 2014. And he’s only been formally advertising his services for a few months.

“You need a certain personality to do this. If you’re mousy, and you can’t think in a crisis, this isn’t for you,” he said, laughing. “It’s the only job where you can look out and if you see old ladies crying, then you’re doing a good job. It’s an honor to be given this place of reverence.”

Han Hills, a humanist celebrant in Wilmington, NC, performs a wedding at Wrightsville Beach. Photo courtesy of Leap of Humanity

---

This image available for Web publication. For questions, contact Sally Morrow.

North Carolina’s celebrant numbers have grown to seven, while New York and California have the most, at about 20 each. But there are some states without any Humanist celebrants listed, such as Wyoming, West Virginia or Wisconsin.

Humanist Society program coordinator Sadie Rothman said she gets at least two requests for Humanist celebrant applications each month. But the process to become a celebrant requires five character references and training sessions.

Becoming a wedding celebrant outside of an established faith system can present legal challenges, depending on the state. In North Carolina, marriages performed through the online Universal Life Church before 1981 are considered valid. But the legality of ULC marriages after that date is in question, according to state marriage laws.

Because the Humanist Society is a religious nonprofit associated with the American Humanist Association, they are considered a valid marrying entity in the state. But Indiana Humanist celebrants certified through the Center for Inquiry lost a legal battle in December 2012 over the validity of the marriages they performed.

Mike Werner, past president of the American Humanist Association, said the demand for Humanist celebrants will grow to include traditional ordained ministers interested in officiating nontheist ceremonies.

Amanda and Mike Holawaty didn’t want to settle for a justice of the peace. They wanted to celebrate their values in a scenic wedding near the ocean.

“You see weddings in movies and on TV, the bride being given away and walking down the aisle,” she said. “It was really the same desire for us, just minus the religious aspect.”

(Amanda Greene is the editor of Wilmington Faith & Values.)

The post Humanists find ways to say ‘I do’ without God appeared first on Religion News Service.

Some worry about the implications the bill has for North Carolina, a majority Protestant state with growing Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist populations.

North Carolina State Capitol photo courtesy Jim Bowen via Flickr (http://flic.kr/p/29r1Gu)

---

This image available for Web publication. For questions, contact Sally Morrow.

Manzoor Cheema, a Raleigh resident and board member of the Triangle Interfaith Alliance, said he believes the resolution should be a wake-up call.

“I think this is a very disturbing development; very bad for our state. In my opinion, as a Muslim, a minority community member and immigrant from Pakistan, I believe that separation of church and state is fundamental and grants us many freedoms,” he said.

“But it’s a blessing in disguise to mobilize the interfaith community in North Carolina.”

On Thursday (April 4), Republican House Speaker Thom Tillis pulled House Joint Resolution 494: The Rowan County Defense of Religion Act 2013, just three days after it was introduced.

The bill declared that the state “does not recognize federal court rulings which prohibit and otherwise regulate the State of North Carolina, its public schools, or any political subdivisions of the State from making laws respecting an establishment of religion.”

GOP lawmakers said they wanted to protect the right of the Rowan County Board of Commissioners to offer sectarian prayers before public meetings, which were facing a legal challenge for running afoul of the separation of church and state.

“I gather what these legislators are saying is they want very much to turn back the clock, but the issue of whether or not states should follow constitutional law is settled,” said Michael J. Gerhardt, a law professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and director of the UNC Center on Law and Government.

When word of the bill first surfaced, calls flooded the North Carolina’s ACLU office from several state Jewish federations and synagogues.

“People were horrified by this proposal because it sent a message of exclusion to them, that they don’t matter,” said Chris Brook, legal director of state chapter of the ACLU. “It’s a very unfortunate and confusing message to be sending in 2013.”

One of those callers last week was Eugene Barlaz, the Jewish community relations chair with the Jewish Federation of Raleigh/Cary. The moment he heard about the resolution he started calling Tillis to ask for 30 minutes of his time. And then he called Jewish federations and synagogues across the state.

“A lot of people said to me, ‘Don’t waste your time. This will never go through.’ And my response was people read (Hitler’s) ‘Mein Kampf’ in the 1920s and said nothing would ever happen and look what happened,” Barlaz said.

In an interview with The Salisbury Post, Republican state Rep. Carl Ford, one of the resolution’s sponsors, apologized for any embarrassment the bill had caused, calling its initial draft “poorly written” and misinterpreted.

“We’re not starting a church. We’re not starting a religion,” he told the newspaper. “We’re supporting the county commissioners in their freedom of speech.”

It’s not the first time sectarian prayers have sparked controversy in the state. In 2011, a federal judge ruled against invocations at Forsyth County Board of Commissioners meetings in Winston-Salem. Last February, the Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation sent a letter to Tillis asking him to stop explicitly Christian invocations in the state House of Representatives.

The Rowan County lawmakers, however, are getting support. Cornerstone Church recently paid for a billboard along U.S. 29 declaring: “Keep praying commissioners in Jesus name, amen.”

(Amanda Greene is the editor of Wilmington Faith & Values)

The post N.C. minorities remain worried after religion bill is pulled appeared first on Religion News Service.

(RNS) Mary Anne Hewett, Greg McCaw and Chasity Scott are the members of Micah’s Rule. RNS photo courtesy Micah’s Rule.

This image available for Web publication. For questions, contact Sally Morrow.

WILMINGTON, N.C. (RNS)  The bios of the musicians who make up the band Micah’s Rule read like many Christian artists.

Grew up singing in the church. Preacher’s son. Then became a preacher. In many bands. Degrees in music and ministry. Recorded some albums. Toured with Christian music legends. Even struggled with their faith along the way.

What their bios don’t mention outright might make them one of the rarest recent talents to record in Nashville, Tenn. The three musicians of Micah’s Rule are an openly gay man, transgender woman and a lesbian.

But Greg McCaw, Chasity Scott and Mary Anne Hewett don’t want their sexuality to define them. They want their music to be the centerpiece of their life and ministry.

“There are many people who are gay in the music industry in Nashville, but they’re so far in the closet,” McCaw said.

“It’s just our back story, plain and simple, but we’re not using that as a marketing tool for our music, positively or negatively. We want to be a musical group like any other, but we realize our back story will get out.”

After returning from their recording session in Nashville with famous producer Mark Moseley, Micah’s Rule is ready for their turn in the spotlight, having released their first CD with a party in Wilmington, N.C., their home base.

Though the trio performs a lot of gospel music together in their parish, Wilmington’s St. Jude Metropolitan Community Church, their CD is a mix of Southern gospel, classic country, blues and a medley of 1960s peace songs — all with a Christian message.

Their band name refers to the passage their church adopted — Micah 6:8 — “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Their songs reflect their life struggles as well as their praise of God.

In “Walk the Road,” they sing: “Sometimes you just have to be the one to set your own self free … what matters isn’t what you’re told. But how you walk the road.”

Scott wrote the slide guitar ballad “Can You Hear Me?” as a prayer for her father: “I want him to see, Jesus in me, like I see Jesus in him. Can you hear me? Father, can you hear me?”

There are less serious songs on the CD like the medley of John Lennon’s “Imagine,” The O’Jays “Love Train” and Bob Marley’s “One Love.” There’s also a reprisal of “Thank You For Being a Friend,” the theme song to the TV show “The Golden Girls.”

Even before its release, the CD was already in demand at St. Jude’s. Church member Marcia Morgan believes their music has attracted more people to the church. Another St. Jude’s member Sherry Tucker Henderson bought copies for everyone in her family for Christmas.

“I listen to it day and night,” she said as she was driving to Florida on a trip. Henderson packed 35 more Micah’s Rule CDs to take to churches there. “It’s a message I think everyone needs to hear.”

And all of this has happened in just one year. The three sang together for the first time at Hewett’s brother’s funeral, and knew they’d discovered something special, the way their voices blended.

In January 2012, they began rehearsing and writing together. Scott has a doctorate in music education from Harvard, Hewett has been singing all of her life, and McCaw was the bass singer for many popular Christian musicians including Sandi Patty, Bill and Gloria Gaither and the Gatlin Brothers for 22 years. He also served as a Church of God pastor for more than 25 years in five states.

“When we got together, we got to talking about our own philosophy on religion to see if we melded that way as well,” Scott said. “The way Mary Anne and I write, it’s more of a storytelling with our faith being the force that drives us forward.”

That combination of tight, honest songwriting and harmony caught Moseley’s ear.

“Well, I thought they sounded really good live, they’d probably sound just as good in the studio. They have a really good blend,” he said from his Sound Control Studio, where he’s recorded albums for Dolly Parton, George Jones, Vince Gill, Patty Loveless and Willie Nelson. “If they focus on what they do and who they are, I think they’ll be really successful.”

McCaw met Moseley through some of his previous Nashville contacts.

“There’s a lot of country music and gospel people who won’t accept them for who they are,” Moseley said. “That’s never been an issue for me because I record based on talent, not on what you believe.”

Micah’s Rule wants their music to speak to everyone, that “in life, it’s how you walk your road, not listening to people who say you’re not worthy of God’s love,” Hewett said.

“And we’ve all had that experience,” McCaw added.

(Amanda Greene is the editor of Wilmington Faith & Values.)

The post Gay, transgender band breaks barriers in Christian music appeared first on Religion News Service.