Not a Blog: Not a Catholic either

Over on the other side of the world, Beatriz has been running round like a mad thing trying to get our wedding organised. The churches over there, it seems, are not keen on marrying a Catholic to an atheist, no matter how much the Catholic may want to.

Argentineans for the most part are strong Catholics. They may not go to church, or confession, or do anything the Pope says, but nevertheless the vast majority of them are firm in their belief in God. So much so that the concept of atheism is altogether alien. They can't even get their heads round what it means, and tend to come out with things like "maybe he doesn't believe in God, but he does believe in the Virgin Mary, doesn't he?"

Consequently, when Beatriz went to one church, they told her that in order to marry her, I would have to go to a church in England (not a Catholic one, an Anglican one presumably) and obtain a certificate there to prove that I am not a Catholic.

This raised a number of questions...

1. Could they not just take my word for it?
2. Seeing as I'm not C of E either, how would a vicar/priest/minister who wouldn't know me from Adam (if you'll pardon the expression) possibly be able to attest to my religious beliefs, or lack thereof?
3. Aren't certificates normally for things that you are, rather than things that you aren't?
4. Does the Anglican church, or any other church, have a stack of "This is to Certify that ___________ is Not a Catholic" certificates ready to be filled in, or would they have to make one up for me specially?

Eventually Beatriz conceded that it was a wee bit silly.