“Civil Marriage between a man and woman has been the bedrock of civilisation for thousands of years.”
Not true... Even into the twentieth century marriage licenses were not required in most states.
Exactly. Many marriages were not as such even done {at the time a couple married} in a church by clergy due to availability. A couple { as man and woman} took their vows of marriage to each other in the presence of GOD and became man and wife. A Bible entry of marriage, births, and deaths, was as much a valid record of those events as any state issued writs of today. That has been true even in my lifetime. Family Bibles were considered legal entries.
Both times I've married, my bride to be and I went before Clergy to take our vows after a brief stop at a county clerk's office to pay the state a licensing fee for a state certificate. IOW the county clerk had no authority to marry anyone. The paper meant nothing to us as it was a state license thus revokable by the state. It was the vows we took before GOD which meant everything to us and in both marriages fulfilled them both times. The states paper got filed away in some obscure place in the home hunted for only when state or some business usually insurers demanded a state issued writ as proof.
IF or when GOD ever blesses me a third time with a wife and I meet someone to marry the state will not be involved in that process. At this point in my life all legal issues can be done via civil documents to appease the ambulance chasers oligarchy etc. I do not wish to defile such sacred event with a states writ of marriage that the USSC turned had now into a license for an abomination.
BTW a marriage license the Homosexuals say is a must have for any say in their other pervert partner's health decisions is pure B.S. I made medical decisions for my wife many times including the last one to be made and was never asked at any time to see our license. No I did not have medical POA either.