There was a time, when people had family gatherings and had no clergy performing the ceremony and this WAS when Christianity was THE leading religion. They also would get " married" on the steps of the church;again, without benefit of clergy. I'm talking about the Middle Ages. Then, the church saw money in it and all of a sudden, church wedding became de riegiure (sp?). The church, at that time, also ran the courts. Why should a religion run the courts and have the lawyers? They did though.
This nation has laws.One of those laws has to do with states recognizing the marriages performed in one state,in all of the others. If marriage wasn't regulated, by the government, there would not be a commonality amongst all states. Who knows what kind of crazy things would happen? And before you start calling me names, or making claims about me and my positions, which I haven't actually stated, bear in mind that I am only stating facts, not opinions.