14 DAY TRIAL // Two British newlyweds have become the first couple in the country to get married in a Church of Scientology chapel. Louisa Hodkin and Alessandro Calcioli tied the knot on February 23, in the Church of Scientology chapel in Blackfriars, London.
The couple won a human rights case in the UK's Supreme Court in December, when five judges ruled that a Scientology church was indeed a “place of meeting for religious worship.”
According to the Mirror, Louisa Hodkin started the legal action when officials refused to register the London Church Chapel as a place for marriage for her and her fiancé. However, the outcome of the case turned out to be in their favor, as the judges ruled that religion should not be limited only to faiths involving a supreme deity.
In 1970, a judge ruled that Scientology services were not acts of worship because they didn't involve the “veneration of God or of a supreme being.” But Ms, Hodkin argued that Scientologist beliefs and services had greatly evolved during the past four decades.
When they found out the decision of the Supreme Court, the couple said “It has been a long, five-year battle to achieve a simple freedom - the right to marry in our own church with a service in accordance with the rites and customs of our religion and surrounded by our friends and family.”
“We are delighted that Louisa and Alessandro can now be married in their church in front of their family and fellow parishioners. We extend our congratulations to the happy couple and wish them well in their future life together,” said a Church of Scientology spokesman.
The young couple from East Grinstead, West Sussex, exchanged vows on Sunday in the London Church Chapel. During the solemn ceremony, the couple were told that their wedding rings represented “time and space, which are without ending” before being declared husband and wife.
When asked how he felt, the groom answered, “Just ecstatic - a little bit speechless, just so happy that this day has finally come.”
Scientology is recognized as a religion in the United States, but in other countries it is considered to be a cult. It has nearly 12 million members worldwide.
Scientology states that people are immortal beings who have forgotten their true nature. Its members practice a method of spiritual rehabilitation in which they try to re-experience traumatic events in their past in order to free themselves of their limiting effects.