I guess I tend to think of think of the government record of "marriage" to be something separate from the religion record of "marriage".
Although in my case, the wedding ceremony covered both government and religion at once. They can be separate.
For my maternal grandparents, they were married by a judge first and then years later married in the Catholic Church (my grandmother was Catholic and my grandfather was Lutheran). The government record existed long before the religious record. For me the government record has to do with taxes, healthcare, responsibility for children, wills, etc. While the religious record has to do with church paperwork, religious folk and deity (or deities).
Another couple that I know of have 1 government and 2 religious records (with both Baptist and Jewish ceremonies involved, one directly after the other).
The people you mentioned in Texas practicing polygamy seem to have my same perception of the separation of church and state. They have 1 legal government record of marriage and multiple religious records of marriage. In the eyes of their god, they have multiple real marriages. And in the eyes of the government they have 1 official marriage and several single mothers living at the same address that can collect food stamps. From the government standpoint that does put the official government recognized wife in a position of power in the family structure.
You had mentioned that gay couples having some sort of government certificate already in CA. I think I have heard of that as domestic partnership or something. I don't really see much difference between that and a record of marriage, but there probably is some legal difference. And where there might be some advantages and/or disadvantages of one versus the other. I think it is probably better to make the two equal to make sure we are not discriminating in some way. On the other hand if domestic partnership has some advantage, perhaps I could switch to that being the government record of my religious marriage (unless the government prohibits heterosexual domestic partnership).
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