The State of Marriage.

At what point did we decide that it was appropriate for the State to become involved in "marriage"?
Why did we ever give the State the authority to issue marriage licenses in the first place? Marriage is a union between a man and woman….a covenant before God and will forever remain as such.
Some might say a "legal" document helps regulate the distribution of property and establish custody of children should a divorce come about. There are already mechanisms in place to take care of that.......even now those disputes can be settled by the State when the case involves couples who never married. Childhood custody decisions can rely on DNA testing rather than a courthouse document that really doesn't prove parenthood anyway.
Some argue that married couples receive an unfair tax advantages over those individuals that are prohibited by the State from getting married. This argument would disappear if the Fair Tax were to become law.....eliminating the tax deductions of the present income tax system.
We have a situation now where nontraditional (as it applies in Western civilization) marriages are being debated;-same sex and polygamous are the issues du jour-
Different groups are demanding that their civil rights be recognized.
It’s the “equal protection under the law” argument.
The State should get out of the marriage business and put the issue back in the hands of the Churches.
If someone wants to get married he/she should present him/herself before the religious institution of her/his choice and let that be the determining factor.
The majority of churches wouldn't permit gay marriages or polygamy, but, if a person's religion allows such, then so be it. It may eventually come about that same sex marriages will be permitted in certain Anglican sects but that is a problem for the Anglican’s to solve. It’s not my concern.
My religion wouldn't recognize same sex or polygamist marriages as valid and that's all that concerns me. In the view of the Catholic Church, any “marriage” performed in a courthouse or city hall by a government official is illegitimate …..even one between heterosexuals.
The same sex marriages taking place in California may (for the time being at any rate) be legal but they will never be legitimate marriages in the sight of God.