Marriage has been practiced throughout all cultures and the complete course of history. During that time, most cultures allowed for marriage to be a polygamous arrangement, but it was often in practice monogamous, with polygamy reserved for those of high rank and rich enough to afford to care for multiple wives. Marriage was very often instituted simply by two people choosing to live together and hence were seen as married by the community. In many ancient cultures, a dowry was supplied by the wife's family.

Monogamy in Marriage

While most marriages in practice were monogamous, all cultures allowed for polygamy with the exception of the Greeks and the Romans. As Christianity survived in its Gentile form within the Roman empire it eventually became a solidly monogamous institution, though even into the 8th century polgamy was not unknown in area of Christian Europe. European Jews outlawed polygamy in the year 1000CE to avoid persecution from their Christian neighbors.

State and Marriage

Wealthy Romans began to sign official documents that listed their properties when they married providing the ability for the wife rather than the first born son to directly inherit property following the death of the husband. This is the beginning of government involvement in marriage initially to document family wealth.

Church and Marriage

In the 6th Century the Justinian Code, which attempted to formalize Roman Law, included codification of marriage. However, it was not until the 9th century before churches became at all seriously involved in marriages. The Council of Trent in the 16th century finally turned marriage into one of the seven sacraments according to Roman Catholicism. Thirty years prior to this, Martin Luther disagreed with this sort of conclusion and insisted "No one indeed can deny that marriage is an external worldly thing, like clothes and food, house and home, subject to worldly authority, as shown by so many imperial laws governing it." "Not only is the sacramental character of matrimony without foundation in Scripture; but the very traditions, which claim such sacredness for it, are a mere jest" "Marriage may therefore be a figure of Christ and the Church; it is, however, no Divinely instituted sacrament, but the invention of men in the Church, arising from ignorance of the subject." Regardless of Luther's position, Protestantism adopted a nearly identical stand to the Council of Trent that marriage was a key sacrament.

Race and Marriage

In the United States 16 states enacted laws prohibiting marriage between races. Mississippi put forth a ballot measure to repeal their law in 2000 which was successful, but received 40% of the votes against allowing interracial marriage.

Conclusion

Marriage as a religious sacrament dates back less than 500 years, far less than the history of Christianity much less the Judaic tradition from which it extends. Some may say the sacrament existed since it was instituted by Christ. If this is true, it was not put into practice until 1500 years later. Connecting the religious sacrament of marriage with the state recognized institution of marriage is artificial at best. For the health of both institutions, it is advisable to separate the two completely, leaving marriage as a religious sacrament, and civil unions as the recognized institution of the state.