Civil Marriage is simply a subset of Civil Contract.

The state can’t consecrate a “marriage”, which is a religious concept. They can only recognize a legal contract, which is all that marriage truly is to them.

A civil union (often called “marriage” by the state) is a legal contract between two adults.

A marriage is a religious concept, and in religions like Catholicism is elevated to the level of a sacrament.

In my Libertopia, a religious marriage will not confer any state recognition whatsoever. Couples married by a church would then file a civil union agreement with the state. The civil union would simply be a standardized legal contract that defines such things as next of kin rights and other matters.

My goal would be to separate the civil and religious concepts of marriage, so we stop referring to the civil concept using the same term as the religious concept. Thus, religions would be free to marry (or not marry) whoever they want. At the same time, any consenting adults (of any sex or number) could form a civil union.

But since we don’t have Libertopia, instead I think we should open the current civil contract (defined as a marriage license) to any number or sex of participants, as it is merely a legal contract to the state.

Civil Marriage is not a right.
Religious Marriage is not a right.

Civil CONTRACT IS a right.

I’m not a social conservative, I’m a believer in limited government. When we start elevating social constructs into rights, it erodes that principle.

I personally believe that the state should get out of the “marriage” business for everyone, and only sanction civil unions. Leave the marriage business to the churches, where it rightfully belongs:

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Who said that the churches should have ANYTHING to do with the institution of marriage either? Hell, I’d rather have the State (ideally an impartial government entity) in charge of marriage than any religious group(s).

In the best situation, marriage would simply not exist the way it does today. Marriage is a social contract between two individuals and should be left at that.

I’ve been happily married now for 15 years, but both my wife and I realize now, that if it weren’t for the fact that we pretty much had to so she could get any kind of useful insurance, we would not have done it. Between the idiocy of the ‘Churches’ who have turned marriage into another platform for attempting to destroy those who they see as detrimental to their cause, and the State, which in it’s ever so generous method, taxes the hell out of us for having the audacity to get married, it’s not worth it.