Marriage as a practical matter exists in all societies everywhere, in the absense of any institutions of organized religion or the political state. Read any eth

Marriage as a practical matter exists in all societies everywhere, in the absense of any institutions of organized religion or the political state. Read any ethnography of any stone-age people from the past several hundred years and you'll find social pair-bonding without any religious or state sanction. There is frequently family sanction, but that is clearly not what you are talking about. For example: http://www.amazon.com/Anxious-Pleasures-Sexual-Amazonian-People/dp/0226307433/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1435384687&sr=1-2&keywords=anxious+pleasures http://www.amazon.com/Anxious-Pleasures-Sexual-Amazonian-Peo... And historically in the West, marriage as a sacrement didn't get off the ground until the late Middle Ages: the Council of Verona in 1184 if memory serves. And even long after that it was still mostly a practical matter for most people.