Sir, – Rather than view the church's proposal to separate civil marriage and religious marriage ceremonies as a "threat", I view it as a positive (Patsy McGarry, "Threat to separate church and civil ceremonies was a crude scare tactic", Analysis, June 8th).
While it is convenient for those getting married in a church to also sign the civil register, the two events are quite different. In practice I imagine it would be similar to our current practice of registering the birth of a baby and subsequently holding a baptism or other ceremony for it. In fact such separation between civil marriage and religious marriage has been in place in France and other countries for a number of years and I believe can only be for the good of society. – Yours, etc,
JULIEANNE
PRENDIVILLE,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.