I think there are reasons for tracking marriages in civil records. Legally it involves civic issues including property, legal identitiy and rights of heirs, and sometimes public health.

The religious aspects of marriage are much harder to fathom; the various burdens imposed by aspirants by Catholicism, and the mass mandated marriages of the Moon outfit, are equally bewildering and do nothing but mess up the lives of those concerned.

Perhaps there should be a seperation of church and marital state!!

A