How and why do atheists get married when marriage is religious?

Image:http://cache.blippitt.com

Marriage isn't religious - it's a civil contract.

Marriage existed long before "God ordained it in Genesis". This is just another thing (like morality, honesty, etc) that Christians have co-opted from the world around them, and now claim as something particularly 'theirs'.

Marriage was around before your religion claimed it. It was and still is a legal document. Why shouldn't atheists get married if they want to?

love is not a religion.

People who don't believe in a formalized religion can get married legally in a courthouse by a judge. Marriage is a legal union or contract.

A Marriage Certificate is a legal document and has no associations with religion. Marriage is also a rite of passage making a change of status for two people and for many it is a way of declaring thier love and dedication to to other. Religion has nothing to do with this unless you make it.

The forming of monogamous couples is a widespread, but not universal, phenomenon in the animal kingdom. The custom of announcing and celebrating the formation of such partnerships is part of the human liking for ritual and ceremony. Rituals are always conducted, or at least tolerated, by the religion of the time. Marriage ceremonies exist in cultures that have never heard of Genesis. As always, religion is used to decorate and justify what people were going to do anyway,

Omitting the fact that marriage existed long before Christianity, marriage is a legal binding of two people. Why should Atheists not be allowed this trust, this union? A lack of belief in God does not mean a lack of belief in love and marriage.