The most compelling counter-argument to the position that the government should exit the marriage sphere and delegate it solely to religious institutions centers on the fundamental legal and civil nature of the marriage contract. Currently, a government-issued marriage license is not a religious endorsement but a secular legal instrument that automatically confers over a thousand specific, essential rights and protections, including inheritance, joint tax filing eligibility, hospital visitation rights, and presumption of parentage for children. Removing the government would abolish this standardized, cost-effective framework, forcing citizens to rely on complex, expensive, and inconsistent private contracts (like wills and powers of attorney) to secure basic protections. This shift would disproportionately harm vulnerable populations and children, while also undermining the national legal uniformity that ensures a marriage recognized in one state is recognized in all others, thus confusing the legal status of millions of committed relationships.