"I understand marriage as a religious rite." Marriage is social institution that can have religious artefacts or governance, it's not specifically a religious

"I understand marriage as a religious rite." Marriage is social institution that can have religious artefacts or governance, it's not specifically a religious thing per sey. Marriage-like institutions (i.e. formalized cohabitation + commitment + usually children) is a social concept that transcends most cultures, traditions, religions. 'Religion' or at least the 'applied' or 'civic' parts of religion, in some places came to embody the social governance of that institution, particularly in the West. There are no 'formal marriage rituals' in Buddhism at least in the way we'd understand that in other faiths - it's literally a 'secular institution' in their view [1]. (They have blessing rituals etc. they're not marrying you) In some places, the Religious Clerics manage it, in others the Civic Cleric, in other places, both. Someone mentioned 'it's a legal thing in the US' - which isn't quite right either. A 'marriage contract' is a civic formalization of the social institution, used in some places wherein the civil state governs the rules about it. Even language such as 'right to be married' is really misleading: 'the right to have a recognized marriage' would be more appropriate. Edit: To help your understanding: 'Sweden' is the formalized state of the 'Swedish people' (historically ethnic group). But if there were no formal nation state, the area 'where the Swedes live' may still be referred to possibly as 'Sweden' ie a social construct exists without formal recognition. Some aboriginal communities to this use the the term 'Nation' to describe their people, even with there are no civic formalities involved. The point being 'a Nation' exists independant of formal recognition, which is a civic construct. Marriages are an ancient kind of social organization and existed long before we developed the civic (or religious) notion of 'law'. [1] http://www.buddhanet.net/funeral.htm http://www.buddhanet.net/funeral.htm