Why should the government define marriage?

[The Free North]

Another case of trying to fit a round peg into a square hole by our glorious leaders.

We are a diverse nation of 300+ million people of countless faiths and beliefs. Why do we have to have 1 definition of what marriage is in this country? Why does our government have to tell the rest of us who (or what) we can or cannot mary? What I find intriguing about the gay marriage debate is that it still sets a single definition of what marriage is, although more open than the conservative definition, it is sill restrictive.

As a Catholic, I believe that marriage is not simply a bond between two people, but a holy sacrament before God. As a result, any marriage outside the church is not an 'official' marriage to me. So what gives it meaning then? The government. Laws about inheritance, hospital visits, etc unfortunately define 2 peoples relationship. This should all be done away with. Marriage should be able to mean different things to different people. Again, to me, a catholic marriage is a union before God, everything else is simply an earthly bond, and thats perfectly fine.

If a guy wants to go out and 'marry' his dog, he should be able to, so long as he's happy. What is the problem with removing the influence of government from marriage? Once we stop trying to define who can marry who (both sides are at fault), we can finally have a free society in terms of marriage.