Ritual After Religion
For much of the twentieth century, as historians and sociologists have long observed, the marking of life’s major transitions in British cultural life followed a broadly shared pattern and practice. Births, marriages, and deaths were tied into Christian language and idiom, accompanied by familiar forms of ritual that, whether or not they were fully believed, were widely recognised as necessary and efficacious. The words and rituals were, in a meaningful sense, understood. Even where personal conviction was uncertain or nominal, there remained a degree of cultural fluency. People knew, more or less, what was to be said and how these moments were to be marked.
In the period since 2001, as indicated by census statistics, something has altered in patterns of religious identity and affiliation in Britain. A greater proportion of the population of England and Wales now describes itself as non-religious (rising from 18% to 37.2% between 2001 and 2021). One consequence of this loosening of the felt tie to religion is that fewer people make recourse to the churches’ offices, or sacramental rites, when marking their own rites of passage – celebrating a birth, formalising a committed relationship, or marking the death of a loved one. It is not that such ceremonies are no longer sought. Rather, they are no longer automatically located within the life of a religious community.
For instance, in England and Wales, according to the Office for National Statistics, there were 231,949 marriages and civil partnerships in 2023. Although the number of opposite-sex marriages fell slightly compared to 2022, this remains a significant figure. More strikingly, fewer than 15% of these ceremonies took place in a religious building. On these figures alone, it looks like the majority of couples, for a variety of reasons, do not anticipate involving a person of faith or their religious community to assist them in celebrating one of the most memorable and important decisions in their lives.
Similarly, the number of baptisms – a significant Church membership rite – recorded by the Church of England has fallen from 139,000 to 67,800 yearly over the course of a decade. Non-religious naming ceremonies for children are gradually emerging as an alternative.
At the other end of life, more than 80% of funerals in 2024 were cremations rather than burials, the former becoming the norm since it was first carried out in 1885. This matters as a figure, because cremation has often gone hand in hand with greater ceremonial flexibility, a loosening of faith-based expectations, and more room for bespoke or semi-secular modes of farewell.
These figures alone do not, in themselves, prove the rise of alternative forms, but they do help explain the conditions in which a non-religious officiant, or celebrant, is increasingly being called upon to facilitate life’s transitional moments.
The result is a significant and important shift. Where once the language of ceremony was largely inherited, it is now more often assembled. Individuals and families find themselves selecting, adapting, or composing the words that will carry the weight of the moment, not relying upon standard templates to express (often inadequately, as it turns out) what they want to say. The responsibility for meaning, once held within a shared tradition, is increasingly placed upon those directly involved.
It is in this context that the role of the celebrant has come into its own, not as a replacement for religious ministry, nor simply as a provider of bespoke ceremony, but as a professional guide in the careful work of articulating meaning where nowadays no shared script can be assumed. The task is not only to organise an event, but to help find language that is equal to the moment, language that is sufficiently attentive to the significance of what is being marked and sufficiently grounded to carry the moment with meaning and integrity.