Marriage is a private matter. Marriage does not depend in any way upon the approval or involvement with anyone else. Burglary, theft and murder all involve uninvited third parties.
Two people on a deserted island can enter into the marriage covenant with each other and with God without the involvement or knowledge of any government.
I have given far more thought than the vast majority of reactionaries on this forum. I would not have proposed it but for the fact that government now seems “hell-bent” to destroy marriage as God defined it.
Moreover, people who object to my proposal never seem to care about co-habitation in college dormitories, nor that over 72% of black children are born to a mother who is unmarried. They will contribute to the decline of marriage as government continues to smother it.
Again, the government isn’t “in the marriage business,” they are merely recorders of marriage - that is it. They don’t tell anyone how marriages must be conducted, how they are to be lived, or any of the details of marriages. There is no competency test or renewal requirements. Marriages don’t expire, except upon the death of one of the participants.
The fact is that marriage IS a public matter if it affects only one other person outside of this covenant. And when children are inevitably involved, this passes that test. Marriage has ALWAYS been a public pronouncement and commitment, even in saner times. This is just recognizing reality.