This all started with the Jim Crow law that redefined “marriage” as a legal contract instead of a religious rite. Once govt. intruded into this sacred arena of religion, it then progressed to a social engineering experiment including tax benefits and social security.
Marriage is inherently a religious rite, not a legal right.
And all of it is calculated to destroy religion. Let’s not let that happen. Remove all marriage laws as unconstitutional because they infringe upon religious freedom. Then, society can sort itself out.
There have always been and always will be social/sexual/etc. outliers. They are not a threat to overall society. However, these efforts to normalize and legitimize them are the magic bullet the left has identified to introduce division, distrust and hatred into society and break it down as a precursor to total subjugation. It’s as simple as that. Don’t fall for it.
There is no need to go into the weeds or debate it at all.
Recalls learning that Christ elevated marrriage to a sacrament. Was it a secular or secularized institution previously?
I don't think that's accurate at all. Government has been involved in marriage in this country since at least 1629, when the Massachusetts colonial legislature passed its first law governing divorce. Even earlier if you consider the legal treatment of marital property, or common-law dower and curtesy rights for surviving spouses.
And during and before that time there was an established Church, and so government could not "intrude" into the "sacred arena of religion," because there was no dichotomy between the two.
Just due to marital property rights alone, I don't think there is any realistic scenario where government does not have some involvement in marriage.