Marriage is a religious ceremony and commitment before God.
The civil society may want to encourage marriage for a variety of reasons. The fact that civil society approves or disapproves is not relevant
Precisely. The licensure of mrriage by the state is not in any way a requisite for religious acknowledgement of the marriage of a man and a woman. In fact, the abandonment of marriage as a purely religious rite by the church has resulted in the destruction of the institution by the state.