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I think that the institution of marriage has been hijacked by the government. Once upon a time, the government merely recorded the marriage, but the actual marriage was conducted in a church. Nowadays, people look to the government to bless their marriages with a marriage license. Well, when an amoral, innately corrupt organization like the government is the institution which blesses your marriage, it only stands to reason that marriage will be cheapened and, of course, what the government blesses, it can also unbless (divorce).

For those who are inclined to follow the Bible, I think the operative words are "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's" and "Render unto God what is God's". Does marriage belong to Caesar or to God? My understanding is that marriage is a sacred covenant with God, and therefore nobody should let the government get its grubby little fingers into their marriage. If a man and woman view marriage as the providence of God, and accept the blessing of their marriage only from God, then certainly the marriage cannot be dissolved simply because some government bureaucrat says it has been. That is one reason government should be kept out of it, in my opinion. The government will try to insert itself, anyway, with common law marriage principles, but as long as the married couple does not see the government as a member of their marriage, that won't matter.

I think that the institution of marriage has been hijacked by the government. Once upon a time, the government merely recorded the marriage, but the actual marriage was conducted in a church.

You might find it interesting that it was the early Protestant Reformers like Martin Luther that made marriage a civil institution. Later John Calvin and others changed marriage to be of state registration and church consecration. The Puritans who first came to this country believed in only civil marriages. In Massachusetts the Puritans in 1646 passed a law making it a crime for anyone other than a magistrate (a government official) to marry couples.

Before the Reformation civil authorities only handled matters of inheritance and left the institution of marriage almost entirely to the Church. It was not the government that hijacked marriage, but instead it was thrust upon the government by the church.