Clause 41 - Religious relics
Human Tissue Bill
9:30 am
Dr Andrew Murrison (Westbury, Conservative)
This is a fascinating clause, on which I have received a lot of correspondence. Perhaps the Government have had a lot of correspondence on the amendments as well. The result of my amendments and of the Government amendment would essentially be the same. The clause deals with religious relics, although it could be interpreted as also including
bodies displayed at funerals for relatives to view, provided that they are religious funerals. I do not think that that is the clause's intention. I think that it was drafted to apply to relics in the generally understood sense of the word: relics that might appear in a church many hundreds of years old, for example. I drafted my amendments to cover non-religious funerals, as it is perverse to allow the display of the dead at religious funerals but not at the increasing number of secular funerals. My amendments and Government amendment No. 109 would allow the display of the deceased at religious or secular funerals so that relatives and mourners can pay their respects.